When you hear about a tragedy on a college campus, the headlines usually focus on the "what" and the "where." They talk about the lockdowns, the police sirens, and the official statements issued by university chancellors. But for the people of Beloit, the name Kelsie Martin isn't just a headline from a May 2025 news cycle. She was a daughter, a Summa Cum Laude graduate, and a young woman who had just spent four years preparing to help others through a career in social work.
Honestly, the details of what happened at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville on May 19, 2025, are heavy. It's the kind of thing that makes you want to look away, but Kelsie’s story deserves more than just a passing glance at a crime report. She was a 22-year-old from Beloit, Wisconsin, who had literally just walked across the graduation stage two days before her life ended.
Who Was Kelsie Martin of Beloit, WI?
Kelsie wasn't your average student. She grew up in Beloit and graduated from F.J. Turner High School in 2021. People who knew her back then remember a girl who was motivated and incredibly smart. She didn't just go to college; she thrived there. By the time she reached her senior year at UW-Platteville, she was a psychology major with a resume that would make any recruiter do a double-take.
She was the President of the Psychology Club. She was a member of Psi Chi, the National Honor Society in Psychology. She worked as the Assistant Resident Director at Wilgus Hall—the very place where the tragedy eventually unfolded.
Think about that for a second. Being an RA or an Assistant Resident Director isn't just about making sure people don't have candles in their rooms. It’s about being the person others go to when they are having a mental health crisis or when there’s a conflict on the floor. Kelsie was that person. She was the "ray of sunshine" her family described in her obituary, the one who stepped up when things got messy.
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What Really Happened at Wilgus Hall?
It was a Monday afternoon. The campus was supposed to be gearing up for final exams, though for Kelsie, the hard work of the semester was technically over because she had already graduated the previous Saturday.
Around 4:00 p.m., police were called to Wilgus Hall for a report of a disturbance. Witnesses later told news outlets they heard arguing, followed by a loud bang. The scene was chaotic. The university issued a shelter-in-place order that lasted about an hour as law enforcement swarmed the building.
Ultimately, the investigation by the Wisconsin State Crime Lab and local police determined that it was a murder-suicide. Kelsie Martin had been shot by 22-year-old Hallie Helms, another student who lived in the hall and had also graduated that same weekend. Kelsie was med-flighted to UW Hospital in Madison, but she didn't make it.
The university called it a "targeted and isolated" incident. That phrase is meant to reassure the public that there isn't a random gunman on the loose, but it doesn't do much to dull the pain for a family in Beloit who was just celebrating a graduation.
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A Legacy Beyond the Tragedy
If you only search for Kelsie Martin Beloit WI to find out about the shooting, you’re missing the actual person. Her family wants people to know she was a huge Marvel fan. She loved to crochet, she loved to cook, and she loved to hike. She was a person with a full life ahead of her—she had already been accepted into the Master of Social Work program at UW-Whitewater for the upcoming fall.
She was someone who genuinely cared. You can see it in her career choices. Psychology and social work aren't exactly "easy" paths. They are fields for people who want to carry the weight of other people's problems.
Why the Community Impact Matters
- The School Community: UW-Platteville canceled finals for the rest of the week. You don't just "go back to class" after something like that happens in a dorm.
- The Beloit Community: Kelsie was a "Beloit girl" through and through. Her loss was felt at F.J. Turner High and across the city where her mother, Jessica Dillard, and her brothers, Kayden and Kole, still live.
- The Professional Community: The psychology department lost a top-tier student who was literally Summa Cum Laude. That's a level of academic excellence that few reach.
Navigating Grief and Moving Forward
It’s easy to get lost in the "why" of it all. Why did Hallie Helms do it? What was the relationship between the two? While the police have kept many of those specific details private, the reality remains that two lives were lost in a way that feels incredibly preventable.
When we talk about Kelsie Martin, we are talking about the importance of mental health resources on campus, even for the "strong" ones who are usually the ones providing the help. It’s a reminder that even those who seem to have it all together—the Deans’ List students, the campus leaders—are living in a world that can be unpredictable and sometimes violent.
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If you are looking for ways to honor her memory, the family has previously suggested supporting causes that Kelsie cared about. Her life was defined by empathy.
Actionable Steps for Those Following This Story
If you are a student or a parent moved by this story, there are practical things you can do to support campus safety and mental health awareness:
- Support Peer-to-Peer Resources: Kelsie was a student leader. Supporting programs that train RAs in deep-level mental health intervention can save lives.
- Advocate for Transparency: Follow the local reporting from the Beloit Daily News or WPR for updates on any legislative changes regarding campus safety in Wisconsin that might arise from this incident.
- Donate to Memorial Funds: There have been various GoFundMe pages and memorial trees planted in her honor. These funds often go toward scholarships for future social work students.
Kelsie Martin’s name shouldn't just be a footnote in a Wikipedia entry about campus shootings. She was a bright, motivated woman from Beloit who wanted to change the world. The best way to respect her memory is to acknowledge the full scope of the person she was, rather than just the tragedy of how she left.