Milwaukee Journal Sentinel –
BROOKFIELD, Wis. — Three women were killed and four were wounded in a shooting rampage Sunday morning at a spa in Brookfield, a suburb of Milwaukee.
Radcliffe F. Haughton, 45, of Brown Deer, the suspected gunman, was found dead inside the Azana Salon & Spa of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Haughton’s estranged wife, Zina, had reported Oct. 4 that her tires were slashed while she worked at the spa. Four days later, she obtained a temporary restraining order against him, and he was served with that order on Oct. 11, said Daniel Tushaus, the Brookfield police chief.
On Oct. 18, a Milwaukee court issued a four-year restraining order against Haughton.
It was not known if Haughton’s wife was a victim Sunday. Police were still working to identify the three women who were killed, Tushaus said.
The four wounded women — ages 22, 30, 32 and 40 — were taken to a hospital in Wauwatosa. All are expected to survive, hospital officials said Sunday evening. The women were not identified. One of the four was undergoing surgery early Sunday night and was in critical condition. A second had already undergone surgery, and was in satisfactory condition. A third patient was stabilized, and scheduled for surgery later Sunday night. A fourth did not require surgery, but was admitted, hospital officials said.
Details of the injuries, including the number of times victims were shot, were not provided. Dr. Gary Seabrook, director of surgical services at Froedtert Hospital, said four patients were brought to the hospital “with multiple gun shot wounds to theirextremities.”
The shootings sent people scrambling to flee the spa, including one woman who ran, screaming, into traffic on Moorland Road.
“She ran right out into the street was pounding on cars,” said David Gosh of West Allis, who saw the woman running into the busy street as he returned from duck hunting earlier Sunday with his father, John, and a friend, Ben Luedke.
Gosh said that moments later, a man with a handgun ran out and appeared to be chasing the girl.
Just then, Gosh said, police began streaming to the scene, and the gunman, seeing them, ran back into the building.
Gosh and his father were fairly certain they saw the man appear at an upstairs window and pull a shade down.
John Gosh said he then saw two women come out of the building who had been shot. Both were bloody, he said; one appeared to be shot in the leg and the other appeared to have been shot in the back.
According to Tushaus and other law enforcement officials who spoke at a news conference Sunday evening, the shooting happened at 11:09 a.m. at the spa.
When officers got into the building they found three women, and helped the other victims and others get out of the building. There was smoke in the building due to a small fire in a hallway that they believe was started by the gunman.
Earlier, law enforcement officials said they found an improvised explosive device in the building. But at the evening press conference, they said the source of the fire was a one-pound propane tank. They were not sure if the suspect brought it to the salon or if it was left by workers who had done general contracting work at the site.
A bystander in the east parking lot of Brookfield Square, identified as Christopher Pfeiffer, 47, of Brookfield, said he was coming from church at Spring Creek church in Pewaukee when he pulled into the Barnes & Noble bookstore and saw a young girl running in the aisles of the parking lot. It’s not known if it was the same woman as Gosh saw.
“She was screaming, yelling, crying hysterical. She was pleading for help,” said Pfeiffer said. “She kept saying, ‘My mother was shot.’ And she mentioned that there was a gunman. She ran into the bookstore and I followed her. But I watched her from afar.”
Journal Sentinel reporters Georgia Pabst, Don Walker, John Fauber, Meg Jones, Paul Gores, Ellen Gabler, Rick Romell, Jim Nelson, John Diedrich and Bill Glauber contributed to this report.
Brookfield — Three women were killed and four wounded in a domestic violence shooting rampage late Sunday morning at the Azana Salon & Spa, across the street from Brookfield Square Mall.
Radcliffe F. Haughton, 45, of Brown Deer, the suspected shooter, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound within the spa. Haughton’s estranged wife, Zina, had reported Oct. 4 that her tires were slashed while she worked at the spa. Four days later, she obtained a temporary restraining order against him, and he was served with that order on Oct. 11, said Daniel Tushaus, Brookfield Police Chief.
On Oct. 18, a Milwaukee court issued a four-year restraining order against Haughton.
It was not known if Haughton’s wife was a victim Sunday. Police were still working to identify the three women who were killed, Tushaus said.
The four wounded women — ages 22, 30, 32 and 40 — were taken to Froedtert Hospital in Wauwatosa. All the women areexpected to survive, hospital officials said Sunday evening. The women were not identified. One of the four was undergoing surgery early Sunday night and was incritical condition. A second had already undergone surgery, and was in satisfactory condition. A third patient was stabilized, and scheduled for surgery later Sunday night. A fourth did not require surgery, but was admitted, hospital officials said.
Details of the injuries, including the number of times victims wereshot, were not provided.Dr. Gary Seabrook, director of surgical services, said four patientswere brought to the hospital “with multiple gun shot wounds to theirextremities.”The chaotic incident sent people scrambling to flee the spa, including one woman who ran, screaming, into traffic on Moorland Road.
“She ran right out into the street was pounding on cars,” said David Gosh of West Allis, who saw the woman running into the busy street as he returned from duck hunting earlier Sunday with his father, John, and a friend, Ben Luedke.
Gosh said that moments later, a man with a handgun ran out and appeared to be chasing the girl.
Just then, Gosh said, police began streaming to the scene, and the gunman, seeing them, ran back into the building.
Gosh and his father were fairly certain they saw the man appear at an upstairs window and pull a shade down.
John Gosh said he then saw two women come out of the building who had been shot. Both were bloody, he said; one appeared to be shot in the leg and the other appeared to have been shot in the back.
According to Tushaus and other law enforcement officials who spoke at a press conference early Sunday evening, the shooting happened at 11:09 a.m. at the spa, 200 N. Moorland Road.
When officers got into the building they found three women dead at the scene, and helped evacuate the other victims and others who were inside the building — about a dozen in all. There was smoke in the building due to a small fire in a hallway that they believe was started by the suspect. Earlier in the day, law enforcement officials had reported that they encountered an improvised explosive device. But at the evening press conference, they said the source of the fire was a one-pound propane tank. They were not sure if the suspect brought it to the salon or if it was left by workers who had done general contracting work at the site.
Police acknowledged at a 3:30 p.m. press conference that they had still not cleared the entire building, and they asked the public for help in finding the suspect. Later, they said the slow progress was the result of the fire, and the nature of the spa, which Tushaus estimated was about 9,000 square feet. A reception desk is directly inside the entrance of the building. To the left are hairdressing stations, with a waiting area for customers to the right. Pedicure stations are behind the reception desk and a large, curving staircase leads up to a second floor that is dimly lighted with multiple small rooms for spa treatments and massages.
For much of the afternoon, Moorland Road was closed between I-94 and W. Blue Mound Road, and Brookfield Square Mall was mostly shut down. Police kept attempting to clear out the parking lot and keep bystanders and passersby to a minimum. For a while, they were searching cars in the parking lot, as well as outlot buildings located across the street from the spa.
Numerous jurisdictions assisted in the effort, included Wauwatosa, Town of Lisbon, Waukesha, Hales Corners, West Allis, Elm Grove, Town of Waukesha, Sussex and Menomonee Falls — in addition to both the city and county of Milwaukee.
A bystander in the east parking lot of Brookfield Square, identified as Christopher Pfeiffer, 47, of Brookfield, said he was coming from church at Spring Creek church in Pewaukee when he pulled into the Barnes & Noble bookstore and saw a young girl running in the aisles of the parking lot. It’s not known if it was the same woman as Gosh saw.
“She was screaming, yelling, crying hysterical. She was pleading for help,” said Pfeiffer said. “She kept saying, ‘My mother was shot.’ And she mentioned that there was a gunman. She ran into the bookstore and I followed her. But I watched her from afar.”
