Milwaukee police ID victims, release details on shooter
Authorities say gunman, co-worker were at odds
Milwaukee police on Thursday released the names of the five Molson Coors employees slain in a workplace shooting Wednesday along with the identity of the man who killed them. The 51-year-old shooter, an electrician who had worked with the company for 17 years, had been involved in a long-running dispute with a coworker that boiled over before he started shooting, authorities said.
MILWAUKEE – Milwaukee police on Thursday identified the five victims of the Molson Coors shooting as well as the gunman, who took his own life.
The victims, all of whom lived in Wisconsin, are:
❚ Jesus Valle Jr., 33, of Milwaukee
❚ Gennady Levshetz, 61, of Mequon
❚ Trevor Wetselaar, 33, of Milwaukee
❚ Dana Walk, 57, of Delafield
❚ Dale Hudson, 50, of Waukesha They were power house operators, machinists and electricians, Milwaukee Police Chief Alfonso Morales said.
Police also identified the shooter as Anthony N. Ferrill, 51, who had worked as an electrician for more than 20 years, about 17 of them at Molson Coors.
Ferrill had been showing signs of bizarre behavior in recent months, telling at least one co-worker that he believed brewery workers were coming into his home, bugging his computer and moving chairs around, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
He opened fire at his workplace on Wednesday, killing the five victims before fatally turning the gun on himself.
The brewery, which was founded in 1855 as Miller Brewing Company, is a legendary part of Milwaukee's beer brewing tradition.
The mass shooting, the largest in the United States in 2020 to date, has shaken residents and city leaders.
All 15 members of the Milwaukee Common Council released a statement Thursday calling for people to support each other, especially the families and friends of the victims.
Ferrill had been involved in a longrunning dispute with a co-worker that boiled over Wednesday, according to law enforcement and brewery sources who spoke to the Journal Sentinel.
A co-worker who asked not to be identified for fear of being disciplined said Ferrill believed he was being discriminated against because he was African American and that he frequently argued with at least one of the victims, a fellow electrician.
The co-worker said Ferrill often watched movies on his phone during the day, which the other electrician took issue with, and that the two accused each other of going into each others’ offices and stealing tools or tampering with computer equipment.
But another co-worker, Keith Giese, said Ferrill seemed fine when he saw him earlier this week.
“I never had a clue. I talked to him a couple of days ago and he seemed fine to me,” Giese said.
Police continued to occupy Ferrill’s home Thursday; detectives and officers occasionally emerged with items.
Police tape still surrounded the house, which has a play set in the backyard, as neighbors struggled to reconcile the helpful man they knew with the heinous act authorities say Ferrill committed.
Neighbor Erna Roenspies said Ferrill sometimes helped her around the house, especially after her husband of 60 years died three years ago.
She saw Ferrill about a week ago when he came to help her with a hot water heater.
“He was like my son,” Roenspies said Thursday. “He was a person who would help anyone in the neighborhood. This, it’s a shocker. I still don’t believe it.”