Posted on 03/19/2005 5:30:06 PM PST by ewin
Terry Ratzmann was laid to rest quietly Friday, at a private service emphasizing forgiveness and attended by a few dozen fellow church members, including some survivors of his shooting rampage.
About half of the 75 people who attended were from the local Living Church of God congregation that Ratzmann sprayed with bullets just six days earlier before taking his own life.
The rest in attendance Friday were Ratzmann family members, including his mother and two sisters, said Thomas Geiger, a member and spokesman for the local congregation. ...
Despite the havoc the 44-year-old Ratzmann wreaked on his congregation, Geiger said, church members heard a mostly upbeat message of forgiveness and hope.
"We hugged and cried over this, even Terry's family," said Geiger. "We've made our peace with them."
Geiger, like some of the others in attendance, had family members killed or wounded in the rampage at the Brookfield Sheraton hotel.
(Excerpt) Read more at jsonline.com ...
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