6 Degrees of Separation: From Brownwood Tx. to Brookfield Wisc.

Does this Sound like the attitudes and views expressed on Brownwood Talk Radio ? Our thoughts and prayers to all of those who are suffering from this tragedy.

" Ratzmann was affiliated with the Living Church of God, a born-again denomination that focuses on "end-time" prophecies and uses news to "prove" that these are end times."

Police baffled by motive in church gun rampage
RYAN NAKASHIMA, Brookfield, Wisconsin March 14 2005
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/35193.htmlMon 14 Mar 2005
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The God-fearing gunman who killed seven at church service
RYAN NAKASHIMA
THIS is the face of the man behind the United States’ latest gun atrocity, in which seven people were killed as they were gathered at an evangelical church service at a hotel in a suburb of Milwaukee.
Last night the gunman, who also wounded four others attending the Living Church of God service on Saturday before turning the gun on himself, was identified by police as Terry Ratzmann, 44, of New Berlin, Wisconsin.
The church’s minister and his teenage son were among the victims of the massacre at the Sheraton Hotel.
Ratzmann, a buttoned-down churchgoer known for sharing home-grown vegetables with his neighbours, walked into the room and fired 22 rounds from a 9mm handgun.
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=275572005
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Wisconsin Church Gunman May Have Been Angry at Sermon
Sun Mar 13, 2005 05:42 PM ET
BROOKFIELD, Wis. (Reuters) - 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.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=7885894
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Worldwide Church of God / http://www.wcg.org/
Brownwood Connection to this church ?
Pastor Terry Lambert
terry.lambert@wcg.org
Pastor: Abilene, Texas (Hawley, TX)
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http://www.livingcog.org/congregations.htm
Abilene Texas John Ogwyn ( Randy Gregory now in Wisconsin )
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Last update: March 13, 2005 at 12:48 PM
A look at the Living Church of God
Associated Press
March 13, 2005 SECT0314
Terry Ratzmann, the man who police say killed seven people and then himself during a church service, was a member of the Living Church of God, a denomination that focuses on "end-time'' prophecies.
The church's estimated 6,300 members in 40 countries place a strong emphasis on using world news to "prove'' that these are end times, to be followed by Christ's second coming.
This year, the group's leader, Dr. Roderick C. Meredith, wrote that events prophesied in the Bible are "beginning to occur with increasing frequency.''
"We are not talking about decades in the future. We are talking about Bible prophesies that will intensify within the next five to 15 years of your life,'' he wrote in the church's magazine, Tomorrow's World.
He advised members to gather emergency food supplies and follow government instructions on how to prepare for an emergency. He also warned about a coming "financial emergency'' and cited an article from the San Francisco Chronicle about the financial fallout as baby boomers retire.
The Charlotte, N.C.-based Living Church of God grew out of a schism in the Worldwide Church of God, formed in 1933 as the Radio Church of God by Herbert W. Armstrong. Armstrong, an Oregon advertising man, preached that Anglo-Americans were Jews, descendants of the lost "ten tribes of Israel.''
The Worldwide Church of God changed their doctrine after Armstrong's death in 1986, but more than half the membership withdrew and formed splinter groups.
Meredith and Raymond McNair led one of the numerous groups that broke away, forming what was then called the "Global Church of God'' in 1992 to perpetuate Armstrong's original teachings.
Armstrong's followers worshipped Saturday mornings, as Ratzmann did, and often rented facilities rather than erecting its own buildings. Adherents believe in faith healing and strict opposition to divorce, among other things. Members are told to shun worldly involvements, including politics, military service or participation in juries.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/5289579.html