Three of the victims were his family members.

Police in Wisconsin have identified the man who shot 4 people dead and injured 2 others in Chippewa County, before killing himself.

Ritchie German, Jr., 33, is the shooter behind the mass killing at two properties in Lake Hallie and Lafayette.

Found dead at the home in Lafayette was German, Jr.'s mother, Bridget German, whose home it was, along with his brother, Douglas German, and his 8-year-old nephew, Calvin Harris.

Police say he then went to the Lake Hallie home, where he killed 24-year-old Laile Vang, and injured her father Teng Vang, 51, and mother Mai Chang Vang, 39.



Both have had arms amputated as a result of the shooting.

Police believe that German Jr. shot his family dead on Saturday, before the Lake Hallie shootings on Sunday evening.

Sheriff James Kowalczyk said the question of why such an atrocity occurred "may never be answered."

With regards to the killing of Laile Vang, it's been previously reported that there's no evidence that he'd ever met her, with police suggesting that the items found in the vehicle German Jr. was using leads them to believe he may have been trying to abduct Vang, in a similar manner to the abduction of Jayme Closs in Barron County.

Kowalczyk had told the Associated Press that German Jr. had sent a text message to Vang inquiring about a personal relationship, only for her to reply: "who is this? I don’t know you."

The sheriff's office said it had contact with German, his mother and two brothers back in 2006 in relation to a domestic incident that took place, which saw German, Jr. arrested for endangering safety by reckless use of a firearm.

"That was the only contact with regards to a crime that the Chippewa County Sheriff's Office has had with Ritchie German," Kowalczyk said.

He said that German Jr. had been living "off and on" with his mother over the past 15 years.