"He Planned to Shoot Us All."

Quiet man gave no hint of violence

Neighbors say inventive loner raised trout, grew vegetables, made church a priority in his life

By RICK ROMELL

He was the type of person you'd scarcely notice in a crowd - quiet, a bit on the tall side, brownish hair, glasses.

"Not in shape but not overweight - Joe Average," said his neighbor, Shane Colwell.

But Terry Ratzmann, the man believed to have opened fire on members of his congregation as they worshipped, slaying seven and wounding four before killing himself, turned out to be anything but average.

That wasn't clear, however, until Saturday afternoon.

"He was the quietest guy in the world, the nicest," said Robert Blasczyk, another resident of Ratzmann's modest New Berlin neighborhood. ". . . I would have never believed this in a million years."

Ratzmann, according to Colwell, who talked with him regularly, was a devout churchgoer, an avid gardener and an ingenious tinkerer.

He "just never came off as a person with any kind of an aggressive attitude," Colwell said. "So calm and so mellow of a person, you know. Not somebody with a huge sense of humor but not somebody who was down and dark."
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Gunman started firing without warning


By MIKE JOHNSON

The Living Church of God had rented a room at the hotel, 375 S. Moorland Road, for a church service and fashion show from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. Saturday.

Ratzmann - who a churchgoer said was suffering from depression and upset about a taped sermon he had heard a couple weeks earlier - burst in through the back of the room about 20 minutes into the service and began shooting, witnesses told police.

Ratzmann apparently also walked out of a church service two weeks ago, police said.

And the gunman also had some "ongoing issues with his employment," Brookfield Police Capt. Phil Horter said during the news conference.

"But that has not been made a clear motive or perhaps even part of a motive at this point," Horter said.

Police were following up on that today, he said. Horter said Ratzmann was employed but his employment "may have been coming to an end."

Authorities declined to say where Ratzmann worked.

But a spokeswoman for GE Healthcare said Ratzmann was an employee of Adecco, a global human resources company, and Ratzmann provided contracting services on-site at GE.

Adecco's head of marketing and communication, Ian Grundy, confirmed Ratzmann was an employee on assignment with GE Healthcare.

He said Adecco was cooperating with authorities, but Grundy would not say what kind of work Ratzmann did for GE Healthcare.

In a statement, GE said: "GE is cooperating fully with the authorities' investigation of this matter. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends affected by this terrible tragedy in our community."

On Saturday, Ratzmann "did not give any warning or provide any verbiage before firing a handgun," Brookfield Police Chief Daniel Tushaus said.

Someone, believed to be a friend of Ratzmann, shouted "Stop. Stop. Why?"

Shortly after, the gunman shot himself in the head....

...Tuhaus said there was no "clear motive" for the shootings and police found no suicide note or other documentation to explain the deadly incident.
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"Stop. Stop. Why?"

That says it all.