Relatives struggle for answers after shooting

Minister among dead
Between 50 to 60 people were at the weekly meeting, and anyone in Ratzmann’s path appeared to be a target. He allegedly dropped a magazine and reloaded another.

When it was over, seven people, including the church’s minister and his teenage son, were killed and four others wounded. Ratzmann, 44, had shot himself; he sat slumped against the back wall with four rounds left in his gun, police said.

It was so unbelievable, someone shouted out, “This is for real.”

Dorothy Hodzinski hit the floor and Gerald Miller, a delivery truck driver, threw his arm over her as they lay together, she told WISN-TV in Milwaukee.

“He tried to protect me,” she said. “I said, ‘Gerry, I think you better start to pray.”’

“He said ’Yeah, I think we better,’ and he went ‘uh’ ... Maybe that’s when he was shot.”

Verge of losing job
Although he left no suicide note and gave no explanation for the killings, investigators said Ratzmann was on the verge of losing his job. It was unclear what prompted the slayings.

Agents who searched Ratzmann’s home found three computers containing many encrypted files. They also found a rifle and ammunition.

Ratzmann went to church every Saturday, Colwell said, and had lived in the same house his entire life. But another neighbor called Ratzmann a drinker, and church members said he struggled with depression.

“Terry suffered from depression, on and off. When he was really depressed he didn’t talk to people. Sometimes it was worse than others,” said Kathleen Wollin, 66, who was sitting at the front of the room during Saturday’s service.

Morry Gash / AP Chelsey Porth, left to right, Kaitlin Schaeren, Ariel Reuter and Kelly Rooney leave flowers outside the Sheraton Hotel in Brookfield, Wis., where a gunman on Saturday killed eight people, including himself.

In addition to Miller, the dead were Randy L. Gregory, 51, and his son, James Gregory, 16; Harold Diekmeier, 74; Richard Reeves, 58; Bart Oliver, 15; Gloria Critari, 55.

Marjean Gregory, 52, was hospitalized in critical condition. Matthew P. Kaulbach, 21, and Angel M. Varichak, 19, were in satisfactory condition Sunday. A 10-year-old girl police identified as Lindsay was released from the hospital.

A crowd gathered for a candlelight vigil Sunday night at a makeshift memorial of flowers, crosses and stuffed animals in a snowbank in front of the hotel.

Ratzmann was not known to have threatened anyone and had no criminal record, police said. Waukesha County supervisor Andrew Kallin, who led the vigil, could only offer a prayer.

“The Lord works in mysterious ways.”

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