Ex-College Wrestler Allegedly Said He Shot And Killed Gymnast Girlfriend In Self-Defense

Authorities described Chad Richards' alleged statements to police in a criminal complaint that also noted 21-year-old Kara Welsh was shot in the fetal position.

A former University of Wisconsin-Whitewater wrestler who was arrested in August in the killing of his girlfriend, a gymnast for the university, allegedly said he shot her in self-defense.

Chad Richards, 23, was arrested on Aug. 31 after his girlfriend, Kara Welsh, 21, was found dead in his off-campus apartment with multiple gunshot wounds, Whitewater police announced at the time. Richards’ charges include first-degree intentional homicide and disorderly conduct while armed.

A newly released complaint obtained by outlets including the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel describes the moments officers arrived to the scene and found Welsh “lying on the floor in a pool of blood.”

Richards told police that he and Welsh had had an argument in the bedroom, and that she grabbed his handgun from a nightstand, the Journal Sentinel reported. Richards allegedly said he wrestled the gun from his girlfriend and fired it “because he feared for his life,” according to Fox 6.

Authorities said they found 11 spent casings at the scene of the shooting, and a medical examiner determined that Welsh suffered eight gunshot wounds, according to the Journal Sentinel. The criminal complaint says she was shot multiple times while in a fetal position, CBS 58 reported.