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Rockline Shooting: Employees Back To Work

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SHEBOYGAN – Employees at Rockline Industries are returning to work Tuesday morning following a fatal shooting inside the facility early Monday morning. Authorities say around 4:30 a.m. Monday, 40-year-old Shadow Yang used a barbell to break a window at Rockline Industries and then fired four shots at 29-year-old fork lift operator Christine Wollenzien, hitting her twice in the torso and once in the head. Wollenzien died as a result of the gunshots. Officials say Yang is a former employee of Rockline, having voluntarily terminated his employment a year ago. Before the shooting incident, authorities say they believe Yang set his own apartment on fire near the 700 block of Kentucky Avenue. It’s a story that’s rattled many, and has permanently left a tragic mark on a proud business headquartered in Sheboygan. It was troubling Tuesday morning for co-workers and friends as they returned to work. There is disbelief among family and friends of Christina Wollenzein, and those family and friends say they are in shock. They say Christina often met up with her friends for a drink after work. Friends and family held a candlelight vigil outside the main entrance to Rockline’s plant Tuesday morning. This vigil was a solemn reminder of the life lost for Rockline employees back on the job. “She loved everybody, was nice to everybody, a really caring person, that’s all I can say,” friend Kevin Nyhuis said. “You just kind of go into shock and it’s just like it didn’t happen. You just have to do things to try to remember,” friend Sara Herzog said. TODAY’S TMJ4’s Tom Murray: “So you didn’t think it could be Christina?” Sara Herzog: “I didn’t at all, and then my manager tells me and I just didn’t want to hear it.” TODAY’S TMJ4 is learning more about the shooter, 40-year-old Shadow Yang. We’re told he was a loner. Neighbors say he kept odd hours. We’ve also learned Shadow Yang reported hearing voices in the weeks leading up to the shooting. Before Yang quit his job at Rockline about a year ago, we’re told he didn’t really get along with Christina Wollenzein, and police don’t believe there was any relationship between the two outside of work. Investigators have a lot of unanswered questions about Monday morning’s shooting inside a Rockline factory in Sheboygan. People wonder why Shadow Yang shot Christina Wollenzien. Nobody can find any evidence of a relationship between them, but witnesses say Yang deliberately targeted Wollenzien inside the plant. 911 Operator: “He hasn’t shot anybody, has he?” Caller: “Yes, there’s a lady right in front of me.” 911 Operator: “Has he shot anybody?” Caller: “He shot somebody.” 911 Operator: “He shot somebody, stay on the line.” The 911 calls tell the story. Total pandemonium as bullets flew inside a Sheboygan coffee-filter plant. Caller: “Somebody is in there with a gun shooting. I saw them with the gun, I saw them shoot somebody.” 911 Operator: “Where is the man right now?” Caller: “I have no idea; I’m out of the building. I’m in a car driving away from the building.” The SWAT team stormed in. Outside the building, employees hugged each other for support. “First of all, it’s a scary thought something like that could happen. Second, it was really shocking because like I said, the building is really secure, it’s very hard to get in unless you work here and are employed and have a card,” employee Jennifer Kleppin said. Police say Yang broke in by smashing a window on a plant door. At a news conference, they said they can't find any evidence of a relationship between the two. They're still investigating why it happened. On top of it all, neighbors near Yang's apartment had their own panic. “I just took all precautions, I locked all my doors and had my phone sitting next to me,” neighbor Connie McCarty said. Fire fighters believe Yang set the upstairs of his duplex on fire about 45 minutes before the shooting. Nobody was home and nobody was hurt, and there's no word on why he started the fire. Yang was found dead about 200 yards away from the first shooting scene inside Rockline Industries. It took more than four hours for investigators to find him, and that made for a tense time as people wondered whether he was on the loose in the community. Even the schools were on lockdown as a precaution Monday morning. videoRaw Video: Sheboygan Press Conference Monday 12:00 p.m. videoRaw Video: Sheboygan Press Briefing Monday 10:30 a.m. Wollenzien was a forklift operator at Rockline Industries' coffee filter division and had worked in the same area as Yang until about a year ago, a company official said. She was on the job Monday when she was shot to death around 4:30 a.m., police Lt. Michael Williams said. Her attacker fired one shot, hitting her in the stomach, then, when she tried to get away, he shot her in the head, said Kirk Engholt, vice president of human resources for Rockline. As many as 130 other employees were in the factory near downtown Sheboygan at the time and quickly evacuated as officers cordoned off the area. About 20 tactical team officers searched the block-long building before finding Yang's body. All schools in the Sheboygan were on lockdown, including Sheridan Elementary and the district administration office while police searched for the suspect. Buses did transport students to schools, but students were required to remain inside the buildings. The schools have since been taken out of lockdown. Yang had quit his job at Rockline 11 months earlier, after working there as a materials handler for about five years, Engholt said. He drove a forklift and would have come into contact with Wollenzien occasionally, he said. Yang had a good work record until he missed a day without an excused absence and then left permanently in October 2006, Engholt said. "No problems, no complaints," he said. "That's why we're mystified by what happened here." Police Lt. Jeff Johnston said Yang and Wollenzien were not believed to be romantically involved. Wollenzien had worked at the plant about nine years, Engholt said. Her mother also works there, although on a different shift. About 45 minutes before the shooting, firefighters were called to a fire at Yang's duplex apartment, Williams said. The fire was intentionally set, he said. It was minor, brought quickly under control and caused mostly smoke damage in the duplex's upper unit, said Daniel Pitsch, a shift commander for the Sheboygan Fire Department. Rockline Industries, a family-owned company headquartered in Sheboygan, makes items including coffee filters and baby wipes. It does business in more than 50 countries and has more than 1,800 employees worldwide.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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