James Pabst, Middleton, Wisconsin man shoots & kills parents, David and Teresa (Teri) Pabst at the family home then self. Son a former football player for his high school had been suffering mental illness.
A Wisconsin couple died after they were fatally shot by their son, who then died by suicide after a standoff with police while fleeing the scene.
David and Teresa (Teri) Pabst, both 64, were found deceased at their Middleton, Wisconsin home, on Tuesday at around 2 p.m, after a family member went to check on the couple after failing to show up for a morning engagement.
Dane County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the residence after the family member called 911 where they came across the macabre scene.
Investigators learned that the couple’s 25-year-old son James Pabst, who was armed, had fled the scene in a white Honda Accord just hours before, according to a Facebook release from the Dane County Sheriff’s Office.
At 4:19 p.m., the Wisconsin State Patrol located the wanted son’s vehicle heading west on U.S. Highway 14 in Vernon County.
The Vernon County Sheriff’s Office conducted a traffic stop and James pulled over without issue.
However, as deputies and troopers attempted to speak with him, he closed his window, and refused to get out of the car. After about one hour without a response to verbal commands, law enforcement tactically approached the car and determined James had shot and killed himself.
Investigators believe James shot and killed his parents, David and Teri, sometime after 9:30 p.m. on Monday, July 7, in the home that they all shared. The handgun used was lawfully purchased by James.
David was a bureau director with the Wisconsin State Patrol and his wife, Teri, was a former educator in the Middleton-Cross Plains Area School District and Madison Metropolitan School District, WSAW reported.
In a July 10 statement, the couple’s three daughters Lora, Danielle and Heidi said their parents were ‘proud grandparents to seven grandchildren and the most loving parents to all five of their children,’ the statement read, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
‘If you were lucky enough to have encountered them in your life, you know what kind, generous, and empathetic people they were.’
The note further stated that their brother was afflicted by mental illness.
Continued the statement, ‘For those of you who have walked a similar journey yourself or with someone in your life, please don’t give up; please seek help.’
