A 21-year-old national champion gymnast who attends the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater was shot to death Friday.
A 23-year-old suspect police have not yet identified has been taken into custody, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
A police statement said the shooting took place in an off-campus apartment.
Police said prior to the shooting, there had been an argument between the suspect and victim.
According to WISN-TV, the apartment belonged to the suspect.
“Our hearts are broken with the tragic loss of one of our own, UW-Whitewater Warhawk Gymnastics senior Kara Welsh,” the gymnastics team posted on Facebook.
Welsh, of Plainfield, Illinois, won the individual national title on vault at the NCAA Division III championships in 2023, the university said in a statement.
The senior had majored in management in the university’s College of Business and Economics.
“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,” UW-Whitewater Chancellor Corey King said.
Everything I see on the murder of Kara Welsh says this, but no one is naming the murderer, posting a mugshot, or anything else the media usually likes to do. This sure reads like the media protecting a domestic abuser. Maybe because he is also a student athlete
RIP Kara Welsh https://t.co/Ks62XKrqCb pic.twitter.com/v68RkMOFFL
— Neil C (@RealNeilC) September 3, 2024
“There are no words to describe the void we all feel in our hearts, but Kara’s legacy will live on through Warhawk gymnastics forever,” UW-Whitewater gymnastics coach Jen Regan said, according to WISN-TV.
“She was a great gymnast,” UWW sophomore Jonah Friede said, according to WITI-TV. “Everyone here is praying for her family.”
Nick Becker, Welsh’s coach for nine years at Aspire Gymnastics Academy, recalled Welsh as driven to put in the effort needed for success.
“She was a bulldog. Just right away – the hardest worker. Very respectful,” he said according to WISN-TV.
She was making the right choices, and she was doing the right stuff. It’s just hard to wrap my head around,” Becker said.
Becker said Welsh was a role model and mentor at Aspire Gymnastics.
There is one word…animal!
I wouldn’t insult animals. I suggest the word “demon”. More appropriate.
Interracial relationships between a black male and a white female always ends badly for the female. That is a definite. I don’t understand what the attraction is on her part.
Chasing woke leftist virtue approval and praise. That was probably the attraction. Too bad. Some end up paying the ultimate price to learn the hard way.
Listen up White girls, stop hanging out with black guys, they want to own you like a trophy they won. I’ve seen this so many times and it doesn’t end well. Stop dating black guys, period.
One race sees answers at the end of a gun barrel.
The women of this country have been targeted by these low lives. What a shame, another woman killed. Very heart breaking. Blame Harris and Biden for all these murders. In my opinion, they are right up there with Hitler after all of these murders going on in our country. Do not think about her legacy because she was too young and start fighting to get our police back and the border closed down and send them all back to their countries. I notice, not too much information on the shooter. He is Black that is why.