6 killed in Delavan home

Placid small town slept through a quiet night but awakened to tragedy

Posted: June 10, 2007

Delavan Shootings

Photo/MaryJo Walicki Officials remove one of six bodies Sunday from a home in the 300 block of S. 2nd St. in Delavan. A 2-year-old girl was found alive with a gunshot wound to the chest.

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The Victims

Ambrosio Analco

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Multimedia

AP Video: Six Dead, Toddler Hurt in Shooting TMJ4 video: 10 o'clock news report TMJ4 video: Interview with Delavan police chief TMJ4 video: Raw footage from scene Audio: Morning news conference with Delavan police chief

Photo/Getty Images James Brandenburg of Delavan prays Sunday across the street from the home where six people were shot to death and a seventh was wounded the night before. Other neighbors, seated in lawn chairs, watched authorities investigate the crime scene.

Other Multiple Killings in Wisconsin

March 12, 2005: Terry Ratzmann opened fire on members of his congregation as they worshipped at the Brookfield Sheraton, slaying seven and wounding four before killing himself. Nov. 21, 2004: Six deer hunters were killed and two others wounded in Sawyer County after the hunters confronted a trespasser. Chai Soua Vang, 36, of Minnesota was sentenced to six consecutive life terms in prison plus 165 additional years in confinement for the crimes. December 1992: Four people ages 13 to 17 were murdered in a drug house in the 2400 block of N. 10th St. in Milwaukee. July 1987: Four members of the Kunz family were shot and killed in the Town of Bern; the body of a fifth family member was found months later in a Taylor County marsh. Chris Jacobs III, 20 at the time of the killings, was charged with the murders but not convicted. He later was convicted of kidnapping and false imprisonment in the abduction of Helen Kunz and sentenced to 31 years in prison. February 1985: Three people, including a priest, were killed when a man suffering from schizophrenia gunned them down after becoming angry that women were allowed to read Scripture passages during services at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Onalaska. Bryan Stanley, 29 at the time, was found not guilty by reason of mental disease. November 1917: Nine police officers and a civilian were killed in Milwaukee when a package containing a bomb exploded at the police station at N. Broadway and E. Wells St.

Delavan - On a clear night, at the close of a picture-perfect June day, it was easy to drift off to sleep. And the noises in the distance, the pops in the dark, well, it had to be kids and firecrackers.

Only it wasn't.

Residents along S. 2nd St. awoke Sunday to a stunning tragedy: Six dead, including infant twins. A 2-year-old girl hospitalized after being shot in the chest.

And a mess of relationships and connections that authorities would not discuss, even by late Sunday night.

Police would not say whether the shooter was among the dead, and whether the series of killings ended in suicide. But they issued a statement that said the community was not in danger from the shooter.

Walworth County District Attorney Phil Koss said he couldn't reveal all the details of the case but added, "it is clearly a domestic situation."

He said police didn't have anyone in custody, "nor are they seeking anyone, but nothing can be ruled out. There are still unanswered questions."

Identities of the victims were not released. But family members identified one - Ambrosio Analco - as the father of the three children. Another, Vanessa Iverson, 19, was at the house visiting friends Saturday night, her family said.

"We want to make sure there is no stone unturned," Delavan Police Chief Timothy O'Neill said at an afternoon news conference, but he did not take questions from reporters.

State investigators are assisting in the case.

"The investigation is an ongoing and complex death case, and we certainly are not going to make premature comment," said Department of Justice spokesman Kevin St. John.

For others the confusion left shock.

"Any tragedy like this has got to affect the whole community," said Don Brick, a 48-year resident. "It is beyond comprehension that anything like this can happen in a community like this."

The neighborhood, of course, is a quiet one. After all, Delavan is a quiet town, some 7,956 residents about 40 miles southwest of Milwaukee in Walworth County.

The house, a two-story white duplex, is a few blocks from downtown. The streets are filled with older homes that ring Phoenix Park, a large spread of green with playground equipment and play fields.

Most residents say there were no signs of trouble with the family, renters who had moved in about eight months ago. One neighbor, though, said he heard yelling and door-slamming recently.

But on Saturday there was no shouting, no arguments.

Just the shots.

Based on a 911 call, those came just after 10:30 p.m. The address: just blocks from the police station.

In a vehicle outside the house, police found the 2-year-old girl, shot in the chest.

She was taken by ambulance to Memorial Hospital in Rockford, Ill., about 40 miles away, then transferred by helicopter to University of Wisconsin Hospital in Madison.

Late Sunday, she was listed in serious condition.

Inside the house, on the second level of the duplex, the scene was worse: There were the two babies, twin boys, both dead. And four adults, all shot. All dead.

One of those killed was Ambrosio Analco, according to his cousin Marco Pastrana.

Analco had been to Pastrana's house earlier in the evening. He had his 2-year-old daughter, named Jasmine, along, and the twin infant boys. Their exact age is unclear.

The group left about 9 p.m., Pastrana said, headed back to the home where the children lived with their mother, Nicole McAffee. That is where the shooting occurred.

Pastrana said Analco and McAffee had once lived together but there were problems and they split. He didn't elaborate.

McAffee lived in the house with her sister and another man, Caspar Huerta, said Jose Huerta, Caspar's brother. Caspar Huerta was not shot, his brother said.

Jose Huerta said he once saw bruises on McAffee's face.

"She said (Analco) was the one who punched her. I told her to go to the police. She didn't say nothing. He told her he was going to kill her," Huerta said.

But Pastrana said his cousin couldn't have harmed his children.

"He loves his kids, he wouldn't do anything to hurt them," he said. "He wasn't drinking. He didn't do anything. He was just there to see his kids. I'm upset, but I'm angry, too. What kind of person would do that?"

In an interview with WTMJ-TV (Channel 4), the police chief said the house was not the sort that generated calls. He indicated police had few contacts with the people who lived there.

Kay Macara said her daughter, 19-year-old Vanessa Iverson, was among those killed. She was at the house to visit friends.

"She was very happy, very bubbly, friendly," Macara said. "She was always there for anyone in the family."

And she was one to prevent a confrontation.

"She would always step in if two people were fighting. She was the mediator," Macara said. "We did have our family quarrels but she would always try to make peace."

As she spoke, tears ran down her face.

"I want answers," she said.

Duane Iverson, Vanessa's brother, said he last spoke to her at 9 p.m. Saturday.

"Everything seemed fine," he said.

That was the attitude in the neighborhood Saturday night, as lights were flicked off in house after house.

Jesus Valadez arrived home Saturday at about the time of the shootings and got in the shower. Although he lives next door, he heard nothing and didn't know anything was wrong until Sunday morning when he took out the garbage.

"All the cop cars were everywhere," Valadez said.

That scene played out in other homes on the street. Soon, many were outside their homes, some sitting on lawn chairs, watching the investigation unfold on the other side of the police tape.

At one point, Walworth County Coroner John Griebel arrived, carrying several folded body bags under his arms. Later, bodies were wheeled out on stretchers.

Leanda Mena, who has lived on the street for 17 years, was among those watching the commotion.

She said people tend to move in and out of the unit where the shootings occurred, so she doesn't get to know them well.

"There was never any trouble there," she said. "There are always quiet people. It's kind of sudden for something like this to happen."

Mena heard the shots before she went to bed, only she didn't know it until morning.

"I didn't pay much attention," she said. "I shut off the TV and went back to sleep."

She thought it was kids and firecrackers.

Only it wasn't.