Additional details released on UW-Platteville murder suicide

The woman who brought a gun to Wilgus Hall at UW-Platteville in May and shot and killed another student, then herself, had a pattern of concerning behaviors and writings, including Google searches about gun-related topics and information on writing a suicide note, according to a recently released police report. 22-year-old Hallie Helms of Baraboo, shot and killed 22-year-old Kelsie Martin of Beloit, on May 19. Helms had studied elementary education, but was not recommended for teaching licensure because of poor academic performance, according to documents in the University of Wisconsin-Platteville Police Department report. She was absent for about two weeks at the end of the semester. Meanwhile, Martin earned her degree in psychology. She was the Resident Director on Helms’ floor. Both Helms and Martin lived in the Wilgus Hall dormitory. Investigators found a blue spiral notebook belonging to Helms after the shooting. In it were writings about obtaining a gun, suicide and possibly killing others. Police classified the deaths as a murder-suicide in their report.