Man kills 7, self at Wisconsin church service
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-03-13 09:17

A gunman opened fire Saturday at a church service being held at a hotel, killing seven people before taking his own life in Wisconsin, US authorities said.

Brookfield, Wisconsin police secure the scene outside a Sheraton Hotel in Brookfield hours after a New Berlin man opened fire killing eight people, including himself, and wounding five others March 12, 2005. The victims were attending a Church of the Living God service when the shooting took place. [AP]

Officers found four people and the gunman dead when they arrived about 1 p.m. at the Sheraton hotel. Three others died later at a hospital, said Daniel Tushaus, chief of the Brookfield Police Department.

"There is nobody else being sought at this time as a suspect," he said.

The victims were all in the same room at the hotel, Tushaus said. The suspect, a man of about 45 who was armed with a handgun, was affiliated with the church, which had been meeting at the hotel every Saturday morning for four or five years.

Tushaus did not identify the victims but gave approximate ages. Two boys ages 15 and 17, a 72-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman died at the hotel. Three men ranging in age from 44 to 58 died later at a hospital.

Four other people were hospitalized in serious condition.

Some hotel guests remained locked in their rooms after police surrounded the building and would not allow anyone to enter or leave.

Karen Suick, 48, said she arrived at the hotel Friday night with 15 players and parents for a hockey tournament.

"One of our hockey dad's two daughters are still in there," she said. "They called his cell phone. They were OK, but they were told to go back to their room. So that's what they did."

At least two church groups were holding meetings in the hotel at the time of the shootings, police said.

Brookfield is a western suburb of Milwaukee.

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