Police: Wisconsin shooting suspect dead of self-inflicted gunshot
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Radcliffe Haughton, a 45-year-old Wisconsin man suspected of killing three people and wounding four others in a Sunday morning shooting at a spa, was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot, police said.
Police said they found Haughton’s body inside the Azana Salon and Spa in the western Milwaukee suburb of Brookfield, where the shooting erupted shortly after 11 a.m.
Police had said earlier they had found an improvised explosive device inside the salon after the shooting. It was unclear whether the device had been disarmed by the time they found Haughton’s body.
After word began to circulate that Haughton was dead, police called off the search for him. Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital in Milwaukee, where four survivors had been taken with non-life-threatening injuries, ended its lockdown before the official announcement of Haughton’s death.
“The hospital has resumed normal operations,” the hospital said in a statement. “We are certain that our environment is safe.”
None of the victims has been identified. WISN-TV reported that all four of the wounded were women.
With the help of a Milwaukee Police Department bomb squad, police had nearly cleared Haughton’s home in nearby Brown Deer, with no indication that any explosives had been found inside.
Brown Deer Police Chief Steven Rinzel said police had found two of Haughton’s daughters somewhere away from the house. He said one of them was high school age and the other was older, and that both had been living in the home. He didn’t give their names or any more information about their location.
Rinzil said Brown Deer police had several run-ins with Haughton in the past that culminated with a recent disorderly conduct arrest during a domestic violence call.
Waukesha County Circuit Court records show that an unidentified petitioner asked a judge on Oct. 8 to place a restraining order on Haughton because of concerns about domestic violence involving family. The Associated Press reported that Haughton appeared in court on Thursday and was given a no-contact order and instructions to turn his weapons over to the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department.
From his home in Florida, Haughton’s father, Radcliffe Haughton Sr., told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Haughton’s wife might have worked at the salon.
Police expect to conduct another news conference soon.
[For the record, 4:30 p.m., Oct. 21: An earlier version of this post cited police as saying the suspect died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Police did not specify the location of the wound.]
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