Terry Ratzmann–the Wisconsin church gunman who shot seven people dead before killing himself–left no suicide note. It is now a matter of speculation as to what got into him.
He was described as a quiet person who built his own greenhouse and shared his vegetables with neighbors. Some described him as devout. The only “red flags” were that some described him as occasionally depressed, and it seemed he was close to losing his job. A couple weeks earlier, he angrily walked out of a sermon. Any number of Americans can fit that description.
Ratzmann had no criminal record. There was nothing extraordinary about the gun he used: a 9mm handgun. It is a low caliber but easy to shoot because of light recoil.
It was the same caliber as that used by George Hennard, who gave us the Luby’s Massacre of 1991. James Huberty used the same caliber in the San Ysidro McDonald’s massacre of 1984. Dyland Klebold and Eric Harris used a 9mm weapon (the TEC-9) in their imfamous attack on Columbine High School.
At Ratzmann’s home, police found a .22 caliber rifle. Such rifles are used for low-recoil target practice and hunting small game. A .22 caliber gun–which has little stopping power–is not a gun for a would-be criminal. Children use it to learn marksmanship. He had no assault rifles, and no class 3 firearms (i.e. machine guns, sawed-off shotguns, or silencers).
As for the church he attended, the Living Church of God (http://www.livingcog.org/) does not seem to have a large set of doctrines or statement of faith, but has a large emphasis on end-times prophecies and connecting them with current events. Some of the empasis looked almost obsessional, but then again consider the evangelical preoccupation with the Left Behind series.
They apparently recognize Saturday as the Sabbath, but then again so do Jews and Seventh Day Adventists and some mainline Protestant groups (Seventh Day Baptists).
There may have been a conflict between Ratzmann and the pastor, but evidently he did not discuss it with anyone else. (That may be an extreme example of what happens when you fail the Matthew 5:21-24 reconciliation rules: you make right with your fellow believer before doing anything else.)
Nothing is showing up that would provide a clue for why he went on the shooting spree.
NOTE: I had originally mentioned the church as the Church of the Living God. This was incorrect: it was the Living Church of God. The former is a 102-year-old Pentecostal holiness denomination based out of Tennessee that has no connection to the Living Church of God, and no connection–direct or indirect–with the shootings. My apologies. No harm intended.
Wisconsin Church Massacre: Few Clues
Terry Ratzmann–the Wisconsin church gunman who shot seven people dead before killing himself–left no suicide note. It is now a matter of speculation as to what got into him.
He was described as a quiet person who built his own greenhouse and shared his vegetables with neighbors. Some described him as devout. The only “red flags” were that some described him as occasionally depressed, and it seemed he was close to losing his job. A couple weeks earlier, he angrily walked out of a sermon. Any number of Americans can fit that description.
Ratzmann had no criminal record. There was nothing extraordinary about the gun he used: a 9mm handgun. It is a low caliber but easy to shoot because of light recoil.
It was the same caliber as that used by George Hennard, who gave us the Luby’s Massacre of 1991. James Huberty used the same caliber in the San Ysidro McDonald’s massacre of 1984. Dyland Klebold and Eric Harris used a 9mm weapon (the TEC-9) in their imfamous attack on Columbine High School.
At Ratzmann’s home, police found a .22 caliber rifle. Such rifles are used for low-recoil target practice and hunting small game. A .22 caliber gun–which has little stopping power–is not a gun for a would-be criminal. Children use it to learn marksmanship. He had no assault rifles, and no class 3 firearms (i.e. machine guns, sawed-off shotguns, or silencers).
As for the church he attended, the Living Church of God (http://www.livingcog.org/) does not seem to have a large set of doctrines or statement of faith, but has a large emphasis on end-times prophecies and connecting them with current events. Some of the empasis looked almost obsessional, but then again consider the evangelical preoccupation with the Left Behind series.
They apparently recognize Saturday as the Sabbath, but then again so do Jews and Seventh Day Adventists and some mainline Protestant groups (Seventh Day Baptists).
There may have been a conflict between Ratzmann and the pastor, but evidently he did not discuss it with anyone else. (That may be an extreme example of what happens when you fail the Matthew 5:21-24 reconciliation rules: you make right with your fellow believer before doing anything else.)
Nothing is showing up that would provide a clue for why he went on the shooting spree.
NOTE: I had originally mentioned the church as the Church of the Living God. This was incorrect: it was the Living Church of God. The former is a 102-year-old Pentecostal holiness denomination based out of Tennessee that has no connection to the Living Church of God, and no connection–direct or indirect–with the shootings. My apologies. No harm intended.