UW-Platteville (UW Platteville)

More details are emerging about a shooting at UW-Platteville Monday which left two students dead. In a statement released Tuesday, the university said the UW-Platteville Police Department had responded to a call at Wilgus Hall, a student residence hall, for a “disturbance.” When officers arrived, they found two individuals with gunshot wounds.

One of the individuals police found on the scene has been identified as 22-year-old Kelsie Martin, who was transported to Southwest Health and then med-flighted to UW Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Martin was the Wilgus Hall Assistant Resident Director and a psychology major from Beloit, the university said in an update. 

The other individual was identified as Hallie Helms, also 22 years old. Helms died on the scene, and preliminary autopsy findings indicate that Helms may have died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Helms was a Wilgus Hall resident, and an elementary education major from Baraboo.

Final exams for the remainder of the week have been cancelled. Students with any questions are encouraged to reach out to the dean’s office for their individual college. Students are encouraged to reach out to counseling resources. University counseling will be offering walk-in urgent sessions Wednesday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and toll free counseling can be reached at 844-602-6680 or 720-272-0004. 

University officials and law enforcement have been tight-lipped about the incident, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. A shelter-in-place order was issued as a large police presence gathered on the campus Monday. The order lasted for about an hour until 5 p.m. Gov. Tony Evers said he was being briefed on the situation and will remain in close contact with university officials.

UW-Platteville enrolls around 5,800 students, with Wilgus Hall, one of 10 residence buildings, housing 230 students , according to the university’s website. Over 2,800 students live on campus. The shooting occurred at the end of the spring semester and on the first day of final exams.

Some students reported seeing ambulances on scene. One student, 24-year-old Amanda Sawatzki, reportedly heard the voices of two people arguing in the afternoon, and then later heard a loud bang while she was working on a senior seminar paper. 

At a 7 p.m. press conference on Monday, UW-Platteville Police Chief Joseph Hallman wouldn’t confirm whether a shooting had occurred, or whether there had been any injuries. Hallman and university officials called it an isolated incident, and said it is being actively investigated by police.