BROWN COUNTY, Wis. (NBC 26) -- It was a firing Austin Franke says could be a reason why his former co-worker killed two young men.
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"The only thing that makes sense to me is maybe revenge, because he lost his job," Franke said. "There was signs I guess leading up through all the years. But most people just looked past it, because no one wants to truly think that about someone."
Franke formerly worked as a chef at the Duck Creek Restaurant at Oneida Casino complex, where authorities suspect former employee Bruce Pofahl shot and killed two workers -- Jacob Bartel, 35, and Ian Simpson, 32 -- Saturday night.
Franke worked with the shooter for a short time, before the gunman was fired for harassment, according to a court record.
"Almost every girl that walked past, he was doing something to," Franke said. "Maybe not physically or verbally, but just the way he looks... A girl will walk past and he'll come up to me or my co-workers and say, 'oh, she has a nice butt' or just inappropriate stuff like that."
As a teenager, Jaslynn Nash worked part-time for banquets and weddings at the complex's Radisson with Pofahl.
"I just feel like that with some women, he just kind of was sexually harassing them would be my guess," Nash said about why she believes the shooter was let go from his job. "I don't know exactly why he was fired, but I do know that he did that."
Back in March, a supervisor at the restaurant took out a restraining order against Pofahl for threatening messages he sent her, including the words 'times up'.
Investigators say Pofahl was targeting a specific person who wasn't there when he arrived.
"A lot of people thought maybe he did it because he had like a family," Franke said. "But most of us who worked with him, we knew because he always bragged in one way or another that he was very successful."
While they make their best guesses, colleagues of the victims still want to know the sure answer to one question: why?
"This may sound terrible to say, but it just feels like shooting Bruce [Pofahl] was just kind of an easy way out for him," Nash said. "And I feel like he knew that he was going to get shot at the end."
Another employee of the Duck Creek Restaurant was also injured in the shooting, but police say Daniel Mulligan is in stable condition at a Milwaukee hospital.
While working with Jacob Bartel, one of the shooting victims, Franke says he grew close to his former colleague.
"He [Bartel] was the type of person that no matter what he was going through, if you're going through something, he will always put you first," Franke said. "And that's in any department. ... He made a big impact on not just the workers, but all the customers."
Franke says he couldn't believe something could happen to a person like Bartel.
"I was in disbelief that something like that could happen to Jacob," Franke said. "I couldn't see anybody doing such a thing to him because he had such a good impact on everybody. I didn't know one person that disliked him."
After Franke left his role at the Duck Creek Restaurant, he started to make plans with Bartel that never came to fruition.
"I'm kind of hit with the I really didn't say my goodbye to him at all," Franke said. "I was left with 'does this day work?' So I'd pretty much like to apologize for not getting back to him right away. I don't think he knew how great of a guy he was. I don't think he realized how many people he truly touched. ... I just really want him to know that. I'm sure he does now."
