Gunman could have been on copycat mission

Wisconsin cops: Similarities in Closs abduction

A Wisconsin man killed three of his family members before blasting his way into the home of a stranger he had been sending harassing texts to and killing her, authorities said Tuesday, speculating that he may have been trying to imitate last year’s home invasion and abduction of teenager Jayme Closs.

Ritchie German Jr., 33, shot his mother, brother and his brother’s 8-year-old son at their home in Lafayette, likely on or before Saturday morning, Chippewa County Sheriff Jim Kowalczyk said. On Sunday night, he drove about 10 miles to the Lake Hallie home of Laile Vang, 24, and shot and wounded her parents before killing her. He then killed himself in the home, where several others were hiding, the sheriff said.

German left his car running outside of the Vangs’ home and had items in it — handcuffs and a loaded handgun clip — that led investigators to believe he could have been planning to imitate last October’s deadly home invasion and abduction of Jayme from her family’s home just 40 miles away, the sheriff said.

However, Kowalczyk said investigators may never know why German carried out the attacks.

“What was the motive? Why did this happen? I don’t have the answer,” he said.

Vang’s parents, Teng Vang, 51, and Mai Chang Vang, 39, had defensive wounds and each had to have an arm amputated, authorities said. They remained hospitalized Tuesday but are expected to survive. None of the four people, including three children, who managed to hide in the home during the attack were hurt.

German was a loner who was often unemployed and who occasionally lived at the Lafayette home where he gunned down his mother, Bridget German, 66, his brother, Douglas German, 32, and his brother’s son, Calvin Harris, 8, Kowalczyk said. All three were shot once in the head with a handgun.