Wisconsin gunman had no criminal past

POLICE KILLED MAN IN SHOOTOUT

A Wisconsin software worker who opened fire on his fellow employees in their office had worked for the company for almost 18 months and had no criminal history in the state, authorities said Thursday.

Police killed the man in a shoot-out Wednesday morning inside WTS Paradigm’s Middleton offices while responding to reports of an active shooter. Police said three people were seriously wounded and remained hospitalized. A fourth person was grazed but a bullet.

Middleton Police Chief Chuck Foulke said the gunman was 43 years old and had worked at WTS Paradigm since April 2017. Foulke said the man had no criminal history in Wisconsin and lived alone in nearby Madison. Officers searched the gunman’s house Wednesday evening, but Foulke didn’t say what they found.

The chief said investigators still don’t know what prompted the attack .

“I’m dying to know the motive also,” Foulke said during a Thursday news conference. “We just have not found one yet.”

One victim was critically wounded but had been upgraded to serious condition by Thursday morning, while the two other victims remained in serious condition at University Hospital, according to a spokeswoman.

Foulke said investigators had interviewed two of those victims. He did not say what they divulged but called the conversations “really important interviews.”

The names of the gunman and the victims haven’t been released.

WTS Paradigm officials issued a statement Wednesday saying the incident was shocking and heartbreaking, but the company provided no information about the shooting. A company spokesman didn’t reply to an email Thursday seeking updates from The Associated Press.

Officers were called to WTS Paradigm in Middleton, a Madison suburb of about 17,440 people, just before 10:30 Wednesday. Foulke said officers arrived within eight minutes of receiving emergency calls and found the gunman wielding a semiautomatic pistol.

Foulke said the man was carrying extra magazines as well.

Two Middleton officers and two Dane County sheriff’s deputies exchanged gunfire with the man, killing him.