The deadly victims of the massacre on an Illinois bowling alley were identified Monday as three beloved members of the community, while authorities revealed creepy new details about the random bloodbath.
A group of four teenagers were sitting waiting to eat at the Shooters Bar, part of Rockford’s Don Carter Lanes bowling alley, when the green beret, Duke Webb, suddenly “started firing at his table.” on Saturday evening, State Attorney J. Hanley told reporters. .
The killer hit a 14-year-old boy in the face and a 16-year-old girl in the shoulder, he said. Both are recovering from their injuries.
When patrons began fleeing in terror, Webb, armed with two Glock pistols, turned his gaze to Thomas Furseth, 65, the official said.
The heavily decorated, 37-year-old Army Special Operations Sergeant shot Furseth in the torso as the old man climbed the stairs and left the victim fatally collapsed at the top, Hanley said.
“I just learned from my sister that my brother Thomas Furseth was murdered in the shooting at Don Carter Lanes in Rockford Illinois,” Linda Furseth wrote on Facebook shortly after noon Monday.
Webb, who is from Florida and was in the state to visit the family, reached the second floor, where there were about 20 to 25 people, Hanley said.
There he shot dead Dennis Steinhoff, 73, who sometimes officiated local basketball games, according to the prosecutor and his friends.
“We were regular referee partners for 22 years,” devastated friend Steve Franck wrote on Facebook.
Local bowling legend Jerome Woodfork, 69, was also fatally killed on the second floor, carrying a bullet in his neck, before falling on the balcony in the lower parking lot.
“It simply came to our notice then [bowling] Hall of Famer in Rockford, ”friend Jason Heiden told a local Woodfork affiliate of CBS-TV.
“I don’t know how many 300 games this guy has. I will never forget that boy’s smile. “
Pal Bob Crosty posted a photo of the victim posing with a bowling ball on the Rockford West High School Facebook page and wrote, “RIP JEROME WOODFORK. Class of 1969. A very elegant boy and a great friend to all. “
Another 62-year-old man is still in critical condition after being shot in the left eye, back, neck, groin and buttocks, Hanley said.
Webb’s lawyer on Monday suggested in court that his client is suffering from PTSD.
The military said Webb had 12 years of “honorable service,” including four deployments in Afghanistan and a series of medals such as the bronze star.
Webb returned from his last deployment in July and was on leave at the time of the shooting, the army said without detail.
The two weapons he used – .40 and .380-caliber Glocks – were not issued by the military, Hanley said.
Webb confessed to his heinous crime to police and showed them where he kept his weapons at the scene after the massacre, the prosecutor added.