On a pleasant spring evening on May 3, 2015, Jonathan Stoffel, a 33-year-old White / Caucasian male from Neenah, Wisconsin, was out for a bike ride with his family on the Trestle Trail Bridge in Menasha. It was a scenic outing that turned into a scene of unimaginable horror. As the Stoffel family—Jonathan, his wife Erin, and their three children—made their way across the bridge, their lives intersected with a troubled individual who would forever alter their world.
Without any warning or provocation, a gunman opened fire on the family and others enjoying the evening on the popular recreational trail.
The shooter was identified as 27-year-old Sergio Daniel Valencia del Toro. Investigators later revealed that del Toro was distraught over a recent argument with his fiancée and had called off their engagement just a week prior. After the argument, he left his residence on a bicycle, armed with two handguns, and headed for the Trestle Trail Bridge. In what police described as a random act of violence, del Toro began shooting at people at close range. Jonathan Stoffel and his 11-year-old daughter, Olivia, were fatally wounded. Another man on the bridge, 31-year-old Adam Bentdahl, was also killed.
Erin Stoffel, despite being shot three times, displayed incredible courage and managed to get herself and her two other young children off the bridge to safety. She instructed her son to run for help, an act that authorities lauded as "amazing." The gunman, Sergio Valencia del Toro, took his own life at the scene. As the shooter was deceased, there were no arrests to be made in connection with the tragic deaths of Jonathan Stoffel and the other victims. The investigation concluded that del Toro acted alone and his motive stemmed from his personal relationship issues.
