A man was taken into custody he shot and killed a national title-winning University of Wisconsin-Whitewater gymnast near campus.
Whitewater police said the suspect, identified only as a 23-year-old man who knew the victim, shot 21-year-old Kara Welsh after an altercation at a campus-area apartment late Friday.
According to NBC News, University Chancellor Corey King announced Welsh’s death Saturday in a message to students and faculty and staff members:
“We know the news of Kara’s death is heartbreaking for our close-knit university community.
“It is a time when we are all called upon to support one another, to process, and to grieve.”
Police said in a statement that the suspect was taken to Walworth County Jail and booked on suspicion of first-degree intentional homicide, endangering safety while armed and disorderly conduct while armed.
As of the time of filing this report, his name had not been released.
In an earlier statement, the police department said a 23-year-old man was present when officers responded to a report of a gunshot victim Friday.
A woman, later identified as Welsh, had been shot multiple times and was dead when officers arrived, NBC News reported.
“Through investigation, it was determined that leading up to the shooting, an altercation had occurred between the two,” police said.
The killing took place on the 100 block of Whitewater Street, about a mile east of the school’s main campus, at a residence listed on a university web page as off-campus housing.
Welsh was a business management major from Plainfield, Illinois, who won an individual national title on the vault for the gymnastics team last year.
The university’s athletic department, in a statement Sunday, said Welsh was a vault “phenom” who holds four of the eight highest vault scores in team history.
“To put into words the impact Kara had on the Warhawk community is impossible.
“A powerful athlete, dedicated teammate, and the light in everyone’s dark days, Kara truly lifted each and every one of us up in her time as a Warhawk gymnast,” coach Jen Regan said in the statement.
USA Gymnastics, the governing body for the sport in the U.S., said on X:
“We offer our deepest condolences to Kara’s family, friends and teammates at @UWWGymnastics.”
