The fatal victims of the Illinois bowling alley massacre were identified on Monday as three beloved members of the community – while officials revealed new frightening details about the random bloodbath.
A group of four teenagers was sitting waiting for food at Shooters Bar, part of the Don Carter Lanes bowling complex in Rockford, when Boina Verde Duke Webb suddenly “started shooting at his table” on Saturday night, the state attorney said. J. Hanley told reporters.
The killer hit a 14-year-old boy in the face and a 16-year-old girl in the shoulder, he said. Both are recovering from their injuries.
When customers began to flee in terror, Webb, armed with two Glock pistols, turned his attention to Thomas Furseth, 65, the official said.
The heavily decorated Army Special Operations Sergeant, 37, shot Furseth in the torso as the older man climbed the stairs, leaving the victim fatally passed out at the top, Hanley said.
“I just heard from my sister that my brother Thomas Furseth was killed in the Don Carter Lanes shooting in Rockford Illinois,” Linda Furseth wrote on Facebook shortly after noon on Monday.
Webb – who is from Florida and was in the state to visit the family – then went up to the second floor, where about 20-25 people were, Hanley said.
It was there that he killed Dennis Steinhoff, 73, who sometimes ran local basketball games, according to the prosecutor and friends.
“We have been regular referee partners for 22 years, ” wrote Steve Franck on Facebook.
Also fatally hit on the second floor was local bowling legend Jerome Woodfork, 69, who took a bullet in the neck – before falling off the porch into the parking lot below.
“He was [bowling] Hall of Famer in Rockford, ” friend Jason Heiden told a local Woodfork CBS-TV affiliate.
“I don’t know how many 300 games that guy has. I’ll never forget that guy’s smile. “
Pal Bob Crosty posted a photo of the victim posing with a bowling ball on the Rockford West High School Facebook page and wrote: “RIP JEROME WOODFORK. Class of 1969. A very elegant guy and a great friend to everyone. ”
Another 62-year-old man is still in critical condition after being shot in the left eye, back, neck, groin and buttocks, Hanley said.
Webb’s lawyer suggested in court on Monday that his client suffers from PTSD.
The Army said Webb had 12 years of “honorable service” – including four deployments in Afghanistan and a series of medals like the Bronze Star.
Webb returned from his last mission in July and was on leave at the time of the shooting, the Army said without elaborating.
The two weapons he used – Glocks .40 caliber and Glocks .380 caliber – were not in the army, Hanley said.
Webb confessed his heinous crime to the police and showed them where he hid his weapons at the scene after the carnage, the prosecutor added.