The Milwaukee Police Department today identified the five victims of the shooting at Molson Coors’ Milwaukee campus on Wednesday.
The five victims were identified as:
- 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
Police also identified 51-year-old Anthony Ferrill as the suspected gunman.
Ferrill, who died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the scene, was a current employee of the brewery.
Milwaukee police chief Alfonso Morales said the motive for the shooting was “still under investigation.”
When a reporter asked Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett if the shooting was racially motivated, Barrett responded that the investigation was ongoing, and that it was “too premature” to speculate.
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, citing brewery and law enforcement sources, reported Thursday that Ferrill, an electrician at the brewery for about 17 years, had a “long-running dispute with a co-worker that boiled over before he came back with two guns and started shooting.”
Morales, Barrett and Molson Coors CEO Gavin Hattersley each extended their condolences to the victims’ families. They also asked members of the media to be respectful to the families.
Hattersley thanks police, fire and local and state officials for their support.
“Today 18,000 Molson Coors employees are grieving over yesterday’s shooting that took the lives of five of our employees at our Milwaukee facility,” he said.
Hattersley described the employees as powerhouse operators, machinists and electricians. He called them “part of the fabric of our community.”
“We will miss them terribly,” he added.
Hattersley said he spent the day speaking with family members of the victims, who he called the “No. 1 priority.”
Barrett asked the community to “come together and put our arms around these grieving families.” Although he asked the public to respect their privacy, he added that the families will need the community’s help.
The Shooting
The press conference took place on Thursday, one day after police had been called to Molson Coors’ Milwaukee campus shortly after 2 p.m.. They found the suspected gunman, dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound and the bodies of the five victims nearby.
“We’re a family here at Molson Coors in Milwaukee and this is an unthinkable tragedy for us,” Hattersley said during a media briefing Wednesday night.
Hattersley and other company leaders had returned to Milwaukee from Houston, Texas, where earlier that day some employees were attending the company’s sales and distributor conference.
“I’ve had a chance to speak with some of the employees that were still here when I arrived this evening, and I’d like to thank them for their bravery,” Hattersley said. “It really is very important that we keep them all close in the days and weeks that are coming.”
The Milwaukee campus’s more than 20 buildings include brewing facilities, office space and a visitors center. No members of the public were involved in the shooting, Morales said.
The campus employs more than 1,000 people. Those workers were released one by one Wednesday after identifying themselves to authorities.
The brewery, offices and tours will be closed for the rest of the week. The complex is known as Miller Valley and beer has been brewed there for more than 160 years.
Government officials decried the violence and extended their condolences to the families and coworkers of the victims.
“This cowardly act of violence is something that we have to make sure is never repeated in this community,” Mayor Barrett said during yesterday’s briefing. “Unfortunately it is far too common in our country, but we’re here tonight in support of the families and the workers here and in support of our community.”
Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes called the incident “a senseless American tragedy, one that shouldn’t have to happen.”
Condolences also poured in from the beer industry, politicians and athletes.