Murder-Suicide Leaves Two Dead In Western Fond Du Lac County

Editors note: Another in our occasional year-long series on gun violence in Wisconsin. In the first nine weeks of this year there have been 16 gun-related deaths in Wisconsin. The most recent was a murder-suicide in Fond Du Lac county on Wednesday.

The gun death tally so far in 2014 includes two murder-suicides. One of them took place on Wednesday in Fond Du Lac County. 56-year-old Ronald Kolosky killed an acquaintance, 55-year-old Bradley Thayer, and then turned the gun on himself. These deaths don’t fit the profile for most murder-suicides, which usually involve a dispute between intimate partners.

Tony Gibart of End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin says in those cases there are often warning signs that neighbors, police, or abuse prevention groups can pick up on.

“You know there are things that can be done to remove guns from individuals: [those] who have acute mental health issues, [or] if there are pending court cases, that condition of release can be that firearms be removed from these really dangerous situations,” Gibart said. “All those issues go towards making sure that victims have the most opportunity to reach out for help.”

That help wasn’t there for the victims of the other murder-suicide that occurred this year. In Green Bay two weeks ago, 52-year-old Jeffrey Fish killed his girlfriend, 47-year-old Linda Dickensen, and then shot himself.