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December 11, 2001
Portrait Emerges of Indiana Gunman
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Wissman killed plant manager Greg Oswald, wounded six other plant employees, and then shot himself with the 12-gauge shotgun he brought through the front door with him at 2:30 p.m.
The Sound Bend (Indiana) Tribune reports that friends, co-workers, and neighbors described Wissman as nice, friendly, and easygoing - a likable fellow, maybe a little timid, and not the kind to jump into things.
Yet people who worked with him, especially managers at Nu-Wood, did begin noticing problems with Wissman on Nov. 30, the Friday before the shooting, according to the Tribune.
Ed Rutledge, production manager at the plant and a friend of Wissman, said he and manager Michelle Morgan were both talking with Wissman about his troubles.
"We wanted to get him some help," Rutledge told the newspaper. "He was a good employee who got along with everybody. But we were concerned he wasn't himself."
The Tribune said Rutledge didn't want to describe the problem Wissman was having, except to acknowledge that it involved a love triangle. Goshen police also confirmed the relationships Friday.
A family friend, Roy Martin of Nappanee, told the Tribune that the situation involved a woman at the plant Wissman had been seeing and another man at the plant.
Martin thought Wissman had been seeing her for about a year. He also suggested that Wissman was under stress to make a decision about buying the house he was living in.
According to the newspaper, court records indicate Wissman had previously been married, and that it was a financially troubled union. He and his then-wife were sued by creditors in 1998 and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in December of that year.
Ruth filed for divorce in October 1999. But it appears Wissman turned around his finances. In February of 2000, he bought two houses that had been subdivided into five apartments.
Things seemed to be going well for Wissman, the Tribune observed. He was dating the woman at work, he had a steady job at Nu-Wood, and the apartments were paying enough rent for him to make mortgage payments. He also ran a small catalog gun sale business on the side.
The problems appear to have started in the week before the shooting, involving the relationship and the woman's growing interest in another man at the factory. A Nu-Wood manager said that man escaped the shooting rampage without injury. It appears the woman Wissman was seeing was not injured either.
Rutledge, who had known Wissman the three years he'd worked at the plant, also did maintenance work at Wissman's apartments and said he knew him well enough to call him a friend.
"It was rough to see the way Robert was acting this past week," Rutledge told the Tribune. "He was saying things that didn't make sense. His motor skills were bad."
By Wednesday, Rutledge and Morgan were wondering whether Wissman also was having medical problems. Rutledge said he talked to Wissman every day.
Wissman got into an argument with the other man involved in the relationship Thursday morning at the plant, Rutledge told the newspaper.
Later, he told Rutledge he hadn't slept for three days. Rutledge and other plant managers suggested he take some personal time, and Wissman agreed. Rutledge said at no time Thursday was Wissman angry with any of the managers or making threats, especially about bringing a gun back.
"He wasn't fired. He wasn't disgruntled," Rutledge said. "We were trying to help him."
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