Wisconsin workplace shooting suspect had revoked gun permit

MIDDLETON, Wis. — The gunman in a Wisconsin workplace shooting was taken to a mental health hospital and barred from buying firearms 14 years ago after telling South Dakota police that his co-workers were “talking bad about him” and his neighbors were spying on him, according to court records.

WTS Paradigm employee Anthony Tong opened fire with a 9mm semiautomatic pistol inside the firm’s Middleton headquarters Wednesday, seriously wounding three coworkers and grazing one.

Police rushed into the building and killed Tong in a shootout just minutes after the attack began.

Tong’s motive remained a mystery Friday, and Police Chief Chuck Foulke cautioned against jumping to the conclusion it was a mental health issue.

WTS Paradigm said in a statement that he had been in good standing at the company.

It’s also unclear how he acquired the pistol since he couldn’t legally buy firearms. A search warrant unsealed Friday afternoon shows Tong had a cache of gun parts in his home, suggesting he may have built the pistol himself.

Foulke said federal authorities had trouble tracing the gun’s origin, calling the weapon “unique.”

Foulke filled in bits of the 43-year-old Tong’s background, saying he moved from South Dakota to Madison in March 2017.

Tong had no criminal history but did have a run-in with police in South Dakota in 2004 that resulted in a judge revoking his concealed-carry permit over mental health questions.

The revocation would have red-flagged him on a gun background check, making it illegal for him to buy firearms, Foulke said.

“It absolutely seems as though with some loophole he was able to get that firearm and he should not have been able to do that,” Foulke said.

According to South Dakota records, the manager of Tong’s Sioux Falls apartment complex called police in August 2004 because the fire alarm had been disconnected in Tong’s apartment. Tong told officers he had disabled the alarm.

Officers handcuffed him and found a .40-caliber pistol under his shirt.

“It absolutely seems as though with some loophole he was able to get that firearm and he should not have been able to do that.” —Chuck Foulke, Middleton police chief