Wisconsin gunman kills seven at church service

US: A man who fired a handgun into a crowded church service at a Wisconsin hotel, killing seven people before taking his own…

US: A man who fired a handgun into a crowded church service at a Wisconsin hotel, killing seven people before taking his own life, was a congregant who may have been angry about a sermon, police said yesterday.

The gunman, who also wounded four others attending the Living Church of God service on Saturday before turning the gun on himself, was identified by police as Terry Ratzmann (44), of New Berlin, Wisconsin.

Police said Ratzmann attended church, which has met regularly at the Sheraton Hotel in Brookfield 16km (10 miles) west of Milwaukee for the past several years.

It was during a church gathering in a meeting room at the hotel that Ratzmann, a computer programmer who was about to lose his job, entered the room from the back and fired a total of 22 shots into the crowd of about 50 to 60 people, police told reporters yesterday.

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Police said the killer's motive remained unclear. But witnesses told police that two weeks earlier, Ratzmann had walked out of a sermon by a minister of the church who became one of his victims on Saturday.

Ratzmann, who did not give a warning or say anything during the shooting, used up one clip, then stopped to reload and immediately opened fire again, said police, who interviewed numerous witnesses. He then shot himself in the head.

During the shooting, police said someone a witness described as a friend of Ratzmann, shouted, "Stop! Stop! Why?"

"There is nothing significant in his background and no mental illness to indicate why he would do this," Brookfield police captain Phil Horter told reporters yesterday.

Police said the four killed at the scene were two teenage boys, ages 15 and 17, a 72-year-old man and a woman aged 55.

Of the seven wounded people taken to hospitals, three - men aged 44, 50 and 58 - later died. Still being treated and in serious condition were a 52-year-old man, a 20-year-old woman, a 20-year-old man and a 10-year-old girl. The names of the victims were not released.

Ratzmann, who lived with his mother and sister, was described by neighbours speaking on local television as an avid gardener and animal lover.

Police searched the home on Saturday and confiscated three computers, a rifle and a box of bullets that matched those used in the shooting.

Meanwhile, police in Houston, Texas, said a two-year-old was shot by his four-year-old brother, who may not have known the difference between a real and toy gun.

The two-year-old, who suffered a single gunshot wound to the temple, was in critical condition last night at Ben Taub Hospital.

The shooting occurred yesterday afternoon at a home in south-west Houston.

The boys' mother told police she had the .32-calibre automatic to protect her family because of recent neighbourhood burglaries. She could face criminal charges.

Police said the four-year-old didn't seem to understand what he had done.

"He's wondering where his brother is, and when his brother's coming back," Sgt Cameron Grysen said.