Kara Welsh, a Standout College Gymnast, Tragically Killed

Kara Welsh, a 21-year-old Uni­ver­si­ty of Wis­con­sin-White­wa­ter gym­nast, was fatal­ly shot in an apart­ment near the cam­pus on August 30, 2024. 

Welsh, who had won an indi­vid­ual nation­al title on the vault in 2023, was major­ing in man­age­ment and was set to enter her senior year.

Altercation Preceded Shooting

Accord­ing to the police, a phys­i­cal alter­ca­tion occurred between Welsh and a 23-year-old man, who was known to her, inside the apart­ment pri­or to the shooting. 

The man was arrest­ed and charged with first-degree inten­tion­al homi­cide, endan­ger­ing safe­ty by the use of a dan­ger­ous weapon, and dis­or­der­ly con­duct while armed.

University Community Mourns Loss

Uni­ver­si­ty Chan­cel­lor Corey King expressed the heart­break felt by the close-knit uni­ver­si­ty com­mu­ni­ty, stat­ing that coun­sel­ing ser­vices would be made avail­able to stu­dents, fac­ul­ty, and staff. The uni­ver­si­ty’s flag will fly at half-staff on Sep­tem­ber 3, the first day of the fall semes­ter, in Welsh’s memory.