UW-Whitewater college gymnast from Plainfield fatally shot in Wisconsin, police say

WHITEWATER, Wisc. (WLS) -- Our coverage of this news story has moved here.

A woman from the southwest suburbs was fatally shot Friday night inside an apartment in Wisconsin.

The victim was a gymnast attending the University of Wisconsin Whitewater.

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The shooting happened around 11:54 p.m. at an apartment in the 100-block of West Whitewater Street in Whitewater, Wisconsin, the Whitewater Police Department said.

A 21-year-old woman was allegedly shot multiple times by a male suspect who was known to her, police said. There was an physical altercation between the woman and the man inside the apartment before the shooting.

Officers discovered the woman dead at the scene. The victim has been identified as Kara Welsh of Plainfield, Illinois, Whitewater police said.

The homicide suspect is a 23-year-old man. He was taken into custody when he was found at the apartment after the shooting, police said.

He is facing multiple charges as he is being held in a Walworth County jail, Whitewater police said Saturday.

Welsh was a gymnast going into her senior year at the UW-Whitewater, school chancellor Corey King said in a statement Saturday.

"It is with great sadness that we announce a University of Wisconsin-Whitewater student has passed away. Kara Welsh, age 21, from Plainfield, Illinois, died in a shooting off campus on Friday, Aug. 30, 2024," the statement read in part. "Kara was majoring in management in our College of Business and Economics and was a standout member of the Warhawk gymnastics team, winning an individual national title on the vault in 2023. We know the news of Kara's death is heartbreaking for our close-knit university community. It is a time when we are all called upon to support one another, to process, and to grieve."

The gymnastics team also announced Welsh's death in posts to social media on Saturday.

UW-Whitewater is scheduled to start classes on Tuesday. The shooting happened near Whitewater's downtown area, where there are many popular college bars.

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No further information was immediately available.

ABC affiliate WISN contributed to this report.