Sheriff: 3 fatally shot in NW Wisconsin murder-suicide

CHETEK, Wis. — A man fatally shot his ex-wife and her teenage daughter before turning the gun on himself at their Chetek home, the Barron County's sheriff said Monday.

John Hengst killed 55-year-old Brenda Turner and 17-year-old Natalie Turner on Friday night. Hengst, 55, then shot himself to death, Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald said.

Autopsy results show each of them died from single gunshot wounds. Brenda Turner also had blunt force injuries to her face, neck and torso and a rib fracture.

"It's domestic abuse straight up. There's no dancing around it," Fitzgerald said.

Hengst and Brenda Turner divorced last year, but the three continued to share a home.

Hengst shot Brenda Turner downstairs after an argument. Natalie Turner, who was upstairs, was able to call 911 before Hengst stormed upstairs to kill her too. Hengst then returned downstairs and shot himself next to Brenda, according to officials.

Dozens of friends and classmates gathered Sunday night outside Chetek-Weyerhaeuser High School where Natalie was a senior. One of her friends, Kacelyn Keller, told WCCO-TV that Natalie was a very positive person.

"She was one of the most sweetest, caring girls I've ever met in my life. She was hard-working. She never had anything negative to say," Keller said. A crisis response team was on hand Monday at the high school to counsel students who earlier this year lost another classmate, 17-year-old Owen Knutson, in a plane crash.

"I can't give those school administrators enough credit for holding that school together," Fitzgerald said.

The community of 2,000 also dealt with a devastating tornado in May that destroyed a mobile home park, killing one and injuring 25 others.