Speculation on Ratzmann's Depression

Search for wife pained shooter

Friends describe Ratzmann as desperate



Terry Ratzmann (right) traveled with Natalie Lorenz (center) and her brother, David Mohr (left), on a 2001 church trip to Australia. “He wanted a wife in the worst way,” said church friend Mark Lorenz (not pictured).

By STEVE SCHULTZE

Posted: March 15, 2005

A desperate and frustrated Terry Ratzmann would seek out marriageable women during one eight-day period every year in which single members of his Living Church of God had the best chance to date, sometimes driving from city to city in vain attempts to find a match, a member of Ratzmann's Milwaukee area congregation said Tuesday.

The 44-year-old Ratzmann would use the church's annual "Feast of Tabernacles" in September or October to meet and possibly find a mate at different celebrations around the country, said Chandra Frazier of Milwaukee.

"He would go from feast to feast site to see if he could find someone interested in him," but apparently did not, said Frazier. "It was kind of sad," she said. "He was doing it to find a wife."

Because local congregations are small - the Milwaukee-area group has about 80 members - dating other church members effectively is limited to the "Festival of Tabernacles," when singles can meet each other, she said. Dating non-church members is discouraged.

The 31-year-old Frazier said she sympathized with Ratzmann's plight, noting that as an unmarried woman, she's acutely aware of the pressure singles are under in the church.

It was at a church meeting at a Brookfield hotel Saturday that Ratzmann opened fire, killing seven and wounding four others before turning his gun on himself.

It was well-known in the local congregation that Ratzmann suffered from depression, Frazier said. But she said church teachings strongly discourage members from consulting with psychiatrists or other therapists to deal with emotional problems.

The church similarly frowns on the use of mood-altering medications, especially more powerful anti-psychotic drugs, said Frazier, believing they "weaken your mind" and make one "susceptible to demons," she said.

However, the Rev. Sheldon Monson, an area pastor in Wisconsin for the Living Church of God, said the church had no policy against outside counselors.

"We encourage people to seek medical advice and see what the problem is," Monson said. He declined to comment on whether Ratzmann had mental health issues.

Frazier said it was the role of the congregation's pastor to counsel members having personal problems. Authorities have said Ratzmann probably targeted his pastor, the Rev. Randy Gregory, and his family during the shooting rampage at Brookfield's Sheraton hotel. Gregory and his 16-year-old son, James, were killed, and Gregory's wife, Marjean, was seriously wounded.

Ratzmann reportedly was upset with a sermon given two weeks before the shootings and had some contact with congregation members before Saturday's service, which started at 12:30 p.m. But Ratzmann went home before the service started, apparently dropping off a briefcase with a Bible inside, and returned to the Sheraton, opening fire about 20 minutes into the service.

Ratzmann's failure to find a wife or girlfriend caused him much pain in recent years, local church members Mark and Natalie Lorenz said Tuesday.

Neither could recall a time when Ratzmann was dating.

"He wanted a wife in the worst way," Mark Lorenz said.

That was depressing for Ratzmann, especially in a church that places so much focus on family and marriage, Mark Lorenz said.

But the depression wasn't visible all the time, Mark Lorenz said. Instead, it showed up sporadically. And the sermon two weeks ago wasn't the first one Ratzmann had walked out of, he said.

"Some days, Terry was perfectly fine," Lorenz said. "Other days, he wasn't."

The Lorenzes have known Ratzmann for at least several years. Natalie Lorenz took a 2001 church trip to Australia with Ratzmann, her brother David Mohr and other church members.

Ella Frazier, Chandra Frazier's mother, recalled a time when she was showing Ratzmann photos of plants.

"He said, 'I don't want to see a photo of plants; I want to see a photo of a woman,' " Ella said.

According to a search warrant filed Tuesday in Waukesha County Circuit Court, police discovered syringes with rubbing alcohol in a room with a ventilation system at Ratzmann's New Berlin home - something that initially was thought to "be used in preparing controlled substances for ingestion."

However after a closer look, police found that Ratzmann used the syringes and the room for making scented soaps, Waukesha County District Attorney Paul Bucher said.

"It was not contraband or any illegal substances," Bucher said.

Frazier said Ratzmann was well known for his soaps, which he carefully packaged and frequently handed out as gifts. He also regularly baked bread, which he shared with church friends, she said.

Police seized three computers and computer equipment from his home, as well as 9mm ammunition and a .22-caliber rifle, according to the search warrant. A manual for a 9mm Beretta handgun also was taken by police, who said that was the type of weapon used in the hotel shooting.

A hint of Ratzmann's social life can be gleaned from pictures he posted on a personal Web site. They included a series of pictures taken at Devils Lake State Park in Wisconsin in 2001 and 2003, as well as photos from a 2001 trip to Australia during the "Feast of Tabernacles."

Among the Devils Lake photos was a shot that appears to be Ratzmann sitting with an unidentified woman. The caption reads, "Break time - No beer here! But the rocks were pretty cool." The next photo shows a wooded trail with the caption, "Yeah!!! We finally reached the end of the trail. This is where it all began."

Also Tuesday, the gun store owner who in 1982 sold Ratzmann the 9mm Beretta handgun used in Saturday's rampage said he could not remember Ratzmann, whose required 48-hour background check cleared without incident.

John Fletcher of Fletcher Arms in Waukesha said that Ratzmann never bought anything else, nor took any target practice at the store's indoor shooting range, according to a review of store records from the past five years.

"He's not a regular customer," Fletcher said. "Basically, we don't know him. We're still looking to see if we had his name on anything."

Fletcher said he has sold guns before to clergymen. But he said he was having a difficult time reconciling how someone as devout as Ratzmann has been described could use the handgun for such violence.

Lisa Sink, Megan Twohey and David Doege of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.
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While interesting to hear the opinions of those who knew Terry Ratzmann, I think it's a leap to assign meaning to his actions at the Brookfield Sheraton Hotel based on their observations.

They say he wanted a wife. That hardly sets him apart from other single 44 year-old men in search of a partner. It all sounds normal enough to me.

They say he was depressed. No doubt, he had his struggles and displayed mood swings. However, and with all due respect, these individuals are not qualified to be diagnosing if Ratzmann suffered from clinical depression.

They also seem to be casting some blame on the Living Church of God and its demands on its members---claiming the church discourages dating non-members, emphasizes the importance of family, and frowns on turning to mental health professionals for assistance.

It appears that authorities will ultimately connect Ratzmann's rampage to the teachings of the Living Church of God.

I'm concerned about the jump to discredit this church in order to explain the shootings.

As a Catholic, it reminds me of those who blame the criminal behavior of a small percentage of priests on the Church itself, thereby casting its members in a negative light.

Just as Catholicism did not cause priests to abuse children, the Living Church of God did not cause Terry Ratzmann to commit murder.