Molson Coors’ Milwaukee brewery will reopen Monday evening after closing for several days in the wake of a shooting that claimed the lives of five employees on February 26.
Molson Coors, the second-largest beer producer in the U.S., will increase security measures, with bag checks at all locations, as well as additional armed and unarmed security guards at the facility, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The company will also have representatives from its Employee Assistance Program at its Milwaukee campus. Brewery tours have been canceled through Saturday, March 7.
About 1,000 people work at the Milwaukee campus, where there are more than 20 buildings, including brewing facilities, offices and a visitor center.
Meanwhile, a GoFundMe fundraiser posted last Friday to support the families of the victims has raised more than $820,000 on its way to its $1 million goal. Molson Coors organized the fund on behalf of the National Compassion Fund, a program of the National Center for Victims of Crime. The National Compassion Fund will distribute 100% of the money raised to victims’ families.
“The Miller Valley Survivors Fund was established to provide direct financial assistance to the family members of the deceased and others directly affected,” the company wrote. “The priority is to give the victim’s families the long-term help and support they’ll need in the years ahead.”
The victims of last Wednesday’s shooting include:
- Jesus Valle Jr., a 33-year-old Milwaukee resident and powerhouse operator who joined the company in 2014;
- Gennady Levshetz, a 61-year-old Mequon resident and powerhouse operator who joined the company in 2008;
- Trevor Wetselaar, a 33-year-old resident of Milwaukee and powerhouse operator who joined the company in 2018;
- Dana Walk, a 57-year-old Delafield resident and machinist who joined the company in 2004;
- Dale Hudson, a 50-year-old Waukesha resident and electrician who joined the company in 2008.
The suspected gunman, 51-year-old brewery employee Anthony Ferrill, died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound at the scene, police said.
Milwaukee religious leaders, community organizers and politicians led a multi-faith vigil at City Hall to remember the victims on Sunday evening.
“We hold their families in our hearts — the parents, the spouses, children, siblings and friends who now carry the weight of losing a loved one,” Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D.-Wisc.) said. “Tonight, we stand together Milwaukee strong to let them know that we are with them to help them carry that weight.”
During a media briefing last week, Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes said the shooting was Wisconsin’s eleventh mass shooting of four or more deaths since 2004.