As state police continue to piece together the motive behind a Thursday fatal shooting at the Ellwood City Forge plant, the community is rallying together to support the family of the deceased. Timothy J. Bollman was well known at the plant where he worked in the maintenance department.
He was on the job with other plant employees around 6:30 p.m. Thursday when, for a yet-undisclosed reason, former coworker Timothy Woods, 31, reportedly walked into his workplace looking for him.
Woods then abruptly pulled out a gun and shot Bollman several times, killing him in front of his coworkers, according to state police accounts. Bollman, 36, a husband and father of two children, will be laid to rest Tuesday following the tragedy that rocked not only his workplace but the entire Ellwood City community. Woods, arrested at his North Sewickley Township home shortly after the shooting, is in the Lawrence County jail without bond and charged with homicide and related offenses.
It was the second shooting death within two weeks in the Ellwood City area — coupled with a threat at Lincoln High School on Sept. 10, the three incidents have raised more awareness and concern among the residents about safety and violence in their town. Community resident Ashley Fisher is organizing a special vigil for 6 p.
m. Wednesday at Community Plaza in Ellwood City for residents to assemble and pray there together. “With two shootings in Ellwood City and threats at the school as well, I thought the community should get together and pray for healing and protection,” said Fisher, who knew Bollman briefly as a previous coworker and remembers him as “a good guy.
” She said Bollman lived in Fombell and had graduated from Riverside High School in 2004, and his children attend school there as well. “We’re going to gather and just pray," she said. Liam’s K9 Academy in Ellwood City will have therapy dogs at the vigil, and local ministers are expected to attend.
“Nothing big is planned except let’s just come together and pray,” Fisher said. “This is about what happened at the Breakers, and at the school, too," she pointed out. "These things don’t happen often in Ellwood City, but for three things to happen within a month, that’s a lot on the community.
” A balloon release also is planned for this evening at the Franklin Township ball field. On Sept. 7, a woman patron was shot and killed while sitting at the bar near a door in the Breakers, a pub on Portersville Road in Ellport Borough, and four others were injured in the drive-by gunfire.
Story continues below video The gunman, identified by state police as Nathan Joseph Fink, 40, of Harmony, Beaver County, reportedly had been a stranger in the bar earlier that night and argued with some male customers. He left and returned, firing shots at the bar, one of which fatally struck Crystal Wawrzinski, 37, of Ellwood City, a mother of four, according to police reports. Wawrzinski suffered a single gunshot wound to the head.
She was seated at the bar in the chair closest to the front door and reportedly had been uninvolved in the argument between Fink and male customers. Wawrzinski’s husband Jonathan, since 2009, was with her in the bar and was one of the injured. A man lying in bed in his house across the street from the pub reportedly suffered gunshot wounds to his legs.
State police arrested Fink and he is in the Lawrence County jail without bond, also facing homicide and related charges. That shooting was still fresh in residents’ minds when Ellwood City school officials Sept. 10 received a threat by a student who threatened to “shoot up the school,” but school officials after investigating it deemed it was not a credible threat.
The death of Bollman on Thursday left locals in shock, according to a Forge coworker who described the situation as chaos and "a rough time" at the workplace. GoFundMe pages have been established to help Wawrzinski's and Bollman’s families. “Tim lost his life to a senseless act of violence Thursday, Sept.
19, while working to provide for his family,” wrote Crystal Steffler, who organized Bollman's GoFundMe account. “We are hoping to provide the family with some sense of relief as they face these unexpected financial burdens, now that they’ve lost their sole provider and best friend.” The fund, called “ Help Tim Bollman’s Children ,” seeks to raise $10,000.
As of early Monday afternoon, $1,045 had been amassed toward that goal. All proceeds from the fund will go to Bollman’s children, Kaelynn and Bentley Bollman. ‘We thank the community for their continued support and outpouring of love right now as they continue to face this devastating tragedy,” Steffler wrote.
The fund for Wawrzynski, organized by her daughter, Arionna Wawrzynski, has a $20,000 goal and has raised more than $15,000 toward that end. The GoFundMe page is called, "Help the Wawrzynski family through tragedy." The daughter wrote, "Due to the recent tragedy that has happened to our small town, please help to support the Wawrzynski family as we tragically lost a beautiful soul.
She was taken away from us too soon. Anything helps as we mourn our loss. The funds will help my family with funeral and living expenses since my father was also shot that horrible night and needs time off of work.
We appreciate any donation at this time." The two suspects in the homicides are considered innocent until proven guilty or adjudicated by a court judge..
