Middleton Office Shooter Passed Company’s Background Check

A man who shot and wounded four co-workers at a Wisconsin software company last week passed the firm’s background check.

WTS Paradigm CEO Nate Herbst said Tuesday that 43-year-old Anthony Tong passed a background check when he was hired. Herbst said the company wasn’t aware of Tong’s mental health history and he didn’t know Tong personally.

Tong opened fire in the company’s Middleton headquarters on Sept. 19, wounding four of his co-workers, three seriously. Police killed Tong in a shootout.

Court records indicate a South Dakota judge stripped Tong of his concealed carry permit in 2004 after Sioux Falls officers took him to a hospital’s mental health unit on a 24-hour hold.