College student from Plainfield killed in off-campus shooting in Wisconsin

PLAINFIELD, Illinois (CBS) -- Some southwest suburban neighbors made a strong gesture on Monday to honor a Wisconsin college gymnast from Plainfield who was shot and killed last week.

Those who knew 21-year-old Kara Welsh mourned her Monday morning, but also remembered the student by wrapping white ribbons around every tree and light pole in their neighborhood.

The stand-out college gymnast died Friday night after a shooting at an off-campus apartment near the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

Police said Welsh was shot and killed Friday night during a fight with a man she knew.

Welsh was set to begin her senior year at U-W Whitewater on Tuesday. The school ordered flags flown at half-staff in her memory and will offer grief counseling to coaches and members of her gymnastics team.

She was a standout on the vault, and according to those who knew her, so much more.

"She's a phenomenal human being," said Ryan Callahan, assistant chancellor and director of athletics for UW Whitewater. "She was a great gymnast, 2023 national champion in the vault, a management major in our truly competitive school of business at UW Whitewater, a team leader, a community leader. Everybody who knew her and was around her is better for that."

"She was the good in every memory that we all have growing up."

Friends and neighbors spent their Labor Day coming together to pay tribute to Welsh.

Sarah Torello and Nicole Conrad said they've known Welsh since they were in preschool. They grew up together in the same neighborhood in Plainfield.

"She taught me how to do a backflip on the trampoline," Conrad said.

"In my yard, when we could barely even speak, she was flipping around," Torello said.

"Getting hurt, and then getting back up and doing more flips, and bouncing back," Conrad said.

Torello now relies on her fond memories of how Welsh was the light in every room.

"She was the good in every memory that we all have growing up. So we're just trying to remember her through the good parts," Torello said.

Conrad said she has no words to describe the loss of her childhood friend.

"I'm sick. I'm sick to my stomach," Conrad said.

Conrad and Torello said Welsh was the kind of person who could always cheer them up, and could make light of any situation, even if it was by cracking a dark joke.

"I don't know, I just feel like she would make a joke about this whole thing," Conrad said.

"She would be like, 'Y'all are doing too much,'" Torello said.

Police arrested the 23-year-old man they believe shot Welsh and recommended he be charged with first-degree intentional homicide. Police have not yet named him.