Brookfield, USA - A gunman who opened fire at a crowded church service in a Wisconsin hotel, killing seven people, including the pastor and his son, was a congregant who may have been angry about a sermon, police said on Sunday.
The gunman, who also wounded four others attending the Living Church of God service on Saturday before shooting himself in the head, was identified by police as 44-year-old Terry Ratzmann of New Berlin, Wisconsin.
Police said Ratzmann attended the church, which has met regularly at the Sheraton Hotel in Brookfield 10 miles west of Milwaukee for the past several years.
It was during a church gathering in a meeting room at the hotel that Ratzmann, a computer programer who was about to lose his job, entered the room from the back. He fired a total of 22 shots into the crowd of about 50 to 60 people, police told reporters.
"There were so many shots. Everybody was screaming. It was mayhem," witness Chandra Frazier was quoted as saying in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newspaper.
Police said the killer's motive was unclear. It was also not clear whether he targeted his victims or shot randomly. But witnesses told police that two weeks earlier, Ratzmann had stood up and walked out of a church meeting during a taped sermon by one of the church's chief evangelists.
Ratzmann, who did not give a warning or say anything during the shooting, used up one clip, then stopped to reload and immediately opened fire again, said police, who interviewed several witnesses. He then shot himself.
During the shooting, police said someone a witness described as a friend of Ratzmann, shouted, "Stop! Stop! Why?"
"There is nothing significant in his background and no mental illness to indicate why he would do this," Brookfield Police Captain Phil Horter told reporters.
Among the dead were church pastor Randy Gregory and his 17-year-old son, James. The others who died but whose names were not released were a 15-year-old boy, three men aged 44, 58 and 72, and a 55-year-old woman, police said.
Four of those wounded, including a 10-year-old girl, were being treated at area hospitals.
Ratzmann, who lived with his mother and sister, was described by neighbors speaking on local television as an avid gardener and animal lover.
Police searched the home and confiscated three computers, a rifle and a box of bullets matching those used in the shooting.
The church, headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., believes the Sabbath should be observed on Saturday. According to its Web site it is active in North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia with over 200 congregations.
The church is an offshoot of the Worldwide Church of God, founded by American evangelist Herbert W. Armstrong in 1933.