January 15, 1988 – Madison, WI
Aaron Lindh entered the City-County Building from the Carroll Street entrance around 12:35 p.m.
with a sawed-off .22 caliber Ruger rifle hidden under a long coat. Lindh had recently been
evicted from the apartment. Three of his roommates had left a month earlier because he had fired
a gun in the apartment several times. He spent time in Wales as a youth because of his
uncontrollable behavior. He was apparently upset because he believed police weren't doing enough
to investigate burglaries at his apartment.
He shot and killed Eleanor Townsend in the county corporation counsel's office then shot and
injured Erik Erickson, who was paying a parking ticket on his lunch break in a sheriff's office
reception area. Then he ran down a hallway, exchanging gunfire with a sheriff's deputy, and
entered the coroner's office, where he shot and killed the county coroner, Clyde "Bud" Chamberlain.
As he left that office he was confronted by officers and shot by Sheriff's Deputy Louis Molnar
outside the ground floor cafeteria
He was found sane in the attacks at that time and is serving his sentence of two life terms, plus 35 years, at the Waupun Correctional Institution.
Two granite benches memorializing the two killed, Dane County Coroner Clyde "Bud" Chamberlain, and Eleanor Townsend, were placed at the east entrance.
Old Firehouse #8 was dedicated to Chamberlain
Aaron Lindh (19)
Clyde "Bud" Chamberlain (62)
Eleanor Townsend (40)
Erik Erickson (45)
Two granite benches memorializing the two killed, Dane County Coroner Clyde "Bud" Chamberlain, and Eleanor Townsend, were placed at the east entrance.