Sheriff: Wisconsin gunman may have imitated Closs kidnapping
A Wisconsin man killed three of his family members before blasting his way into the home of a stranger he had been harassing through text messages 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 8-year-old nephew at their home in Lafayette, likely on or before Saturday morning, Chippewa County Sheriff Jim Kowalczyk said at a news conference. On Sunday night, he drove about 10 miles (16 kilometers) to the Lake Hallie home of 24-yearold Laile Vang, blasted his way inside with a shotgun, 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 — including 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 (65 kilometers) away, the sheriff said. In both cases, the attackers used guns to blast their way into the homes.
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, asking anyone who had been in contact with German in the last week to call the sheriff’s office.
A couple of days before the attack, German sent unsolicited sexual texts to Laile Vang, but she apparently didn’t know him and replied “Who is this? I don’t know you,” authorities said. Kowalczyk said there is no evidence that the two had ever met.