By Shereen Siewert
The 67-year-old man who fatally shot a Wausau woman and injured two other people after rigging his apartment with explosives will spend the rest of his life in prison with no possibility of extended supervision, Wisconsin’s version of parole.
Henry “Hank” West faced a mandatory life sentence for fatally shooting 52-year-old Patty Grimm on Oct.3, 2019. West also shot William Buhse, 60, and Rosemelia Short, 70, who survived the attack at Pine Grove Cemetery, 1501 Grand Ave., Wausau. West was convicted of first-degree intentional homicide and additional felony charges last month in Marathon County Circuit Court.
Though the charge carries a mandatory life term, judges in Wisconsin have the discretion to set a potential release to extended supervision after a suspect spends at least 20 years in prison. West, if allowed to apply for extended release, would have become eligible when he is 87 years old.
But Circuit Judge Jill Falstad showed no leniency for West, who told arresting officers he knew he would end up in prison.
“I don’t think I could be in any more trouble but anything I did wrong was going to be a death sentence for me anyway,” West said, according to the complaint.
Judge Falstad on Tuesday sentenced West to life in prison plus an additional 40 years in prison, sentences that will run consecutively, eliminating any chance that West will one day be free. Falstad also rejected a request by West’s defense attorney to have a mental health evaluation completed prior to sentencing.
Police say West, of Schofield, meticulously prepared for the October 2019 attack. He was convicted of first-degree intentional homicide and several other charges in February, avoiding a trial that would have started in March. West shot all three victims after setting fire to his Schofield apartment and rigging the Fullmer Street complex with incendiary devices.
Had West’s plans come to fruition, the explosions would have killed dozens or even hundreds of apartment residents and workers at nearby businesses, the complaint states.
Grimm, a well-known Wausau native, was the longtime manager of Pine Grove Cemetery, where West was once employed.
West was terminated from his cemetery job in 2012. In the days leading up to the shooting he allegedly told a neighbor he planned to kill Grimm and desecrate her body.
Crews from Riverside Fire Department were initially called at about 8:15 a.m. the day of the shooting to a report of a possible fire 121 Fullmer St. in Schofield, the complex where West lived. When they arrived, they noticed a strong smell of gas and began evacuating residents and airing out the building. The first officer to enter West’s apartment discovered a toaster plugged in to what he believed to be a timer sitting next to a container filled with oil. A second similar device was found by the Marathon County Bomb Squad. Officials say West placed several additional incendiary devices inside his apartment and in an adjacent garage.
Members of the Bomb Squad worked alongside officers and firefighters from multiple departments to remove the devices and residents at the complex, and several nearby businesses were evacuated overnight while police and fire crews secured the scene.
In September 2020, prosecutors said they extended a deal that would have allowed West to avoid a three-week trial, but he rejected the deal.
While in an interview room, West, upon learning his plan to blow up the building did not succeed, allegedly said “Best laid plans, my apartment is intact, that sucks, that (expletive) sucks.”
West has been jailed since his arrest.
