The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater was reeling after star gymnast Kara Welsh was fatally shot in an off-campus apartment in rural southern Wisconsin days before she was set to start her junior year.
Whitewater City police responded just before noon Aug. 30 to a report of “an individual who had suffered a gunshot wound,” the department said in a statement. “Upon arrival, officers found a deceased 21-year-old female who had sustained multiple gunshot wounds.”
A 23-year-old man was also in the apartment, and police determined “an altercation had occurred between the two” leading up to the shooting. The man, who was not identified by police, was arrested and hit with charges including first-degree intentional homicide.
Welsh was a management major in the school’s College of Business and Economics and a “standout member of the Warhawk gymnastics team,” chancellor Corey King said in a statement.
Described by the athletics department as “a phenom on the vault,” she held “four of the top eight scores recorded by a Warhawk gymnast in program history on the apparatus,” the school said, noting Welsh had won an individual national title on the vault in 2023.
“To put into words the impact Kara had on the Warhawk community is impossible,” coach Jen Regan said in a statement. “A powerful athlete, dedicated teammate, and the light in everyone’s dark days, Kara truly lifted each and every one of us up in her time as a Warhawk gymnast. 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.”
Flags were to be flown at half-staff across the campus Tuesday, and school officials said counseling and other support were being made available to those on campus and to Welsh’s family.