Antigo gunman: Thoughtful, bullied, troubled

• Friend: 'He was the type of person who would always ask you how your day was, and if you were okay'
• Bullies would call Mosher 'Trash Bucket,' or make fun of him because his family had little money

ANTIGO - One friend was surprised to learn that Jakob Wagner was familiar with guns, and shocked that he had taken a gun to Antigo High School and wounded two teens as they emerged from Saturday's prom.

But a second friend seemed surprised Wagner hadn't been involved in a school shooting sooner.

Details slowly emerged Monday about the sometimes-awkward young man, three months shy of his 19th birthday, who police say bicycled Saturday night to the high school from which he had graduated in 2015. There, he took out a rifle and shot and wounded an Antigo High student and his date before being fatally wounded by one of two Antigo police officers who had been checking cars at the school.

In conversations in person and via telephone, and in messages left on social media, friends painted a two-sided picture of Wagner. They said people's opinions of him differed depending on the environment he was in.

One-on-one or in small groups, they said, he was a thoughtful, considerate teen who made it his job to cheer up friends when they were feeling down, and who a music instructor was quick to invite back to school when the band needed an extra musician.

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Away from music and art classes, however, he struggled to fit in, often being bullied because of his appearance and a socio-economic status that was below that of many of his schoolmates.

"He was so kind that we became good friends instantly," said Sierra Violetta, a friend who had known Wagner about three years and took to Instagram Monday to defend him. "He would always talk to me about his art projects or band, and how much he loved it. He was the type of person who would always ask you how your day was, and if you were okay if you were having a bad day. He'd try to fix your bad day and make you laugh so that you weren't so sad."

The wounded students, an 18-year-old young man and girl who attended the prom together, both are expected to make full recoveries, family members said.

'He's weird, he's crazy'

Elliot Mosher, who graduated from Antigo High with Wagner, said Wagner was a gentle soul who bonded with Mosher over a shared interest in a form of Japanese animation called anime, and had blossomed in the music and art classes he appeared to love. But in middle school, Mosher said, Wagner evoked a different feeling.

"Senior year, he'd gotten more friends, and he'd come out of his shell," Mosher said. "But back in middle school, people were saying, 'that kid's gonna end up shooting our class up. He's weird, he's crazy.' And I know Jake heard all those things."

Classmates would call Wagner names like "Trash Bucket," or make fun of him because his family had little money, Mosher said. A music teacher and an art teacher would look out for Wagner.

She said he worked at Zane Guitars, an Antigo business that makes musical instruments. A message left at the business Monday was not returned.

Wagner also evoked mixed reactions on social media. His Instagram feed was filled with photographs of things friends said he loved: An orange cat. Musical instruments large and small. Bacon. But one photo divided commenters on Monday: An image of an Airsoft-type gun that bears some resemblance to an automatic weapon.

Wagner wrote that the gun was "beautiful," but some people who found the page after reading about the school shooting thought it was anything but.

"If you commit a heinous crime, it's the duty of the public to disable this profile and not memorialize … (expletive) this guy posting pictures of guns thinking it's cool," someone named Curtis commented. "If anyone needs to be reported its (Wagner) for this vile disgusting profile, it's a straight up memorial for all the Columbine fans....he wanted to be famous by trying to mass kill people and failed."

'Jakob was my friend'

Friends of Wagner's said said they knew he was interested in hunting, and several knew he had access to a gun. They differed, though, on how interested they thought he was in shooting-related sports.

“He didn’t strike me as one that would be real familiarized with guns,” said Randy Huff, who operates Antigo Resale Frontier on Fifth Avenue and considered Wagner a trusted friend. He said they never discussed firearms; Police haven't said who owned the rifle Wagner used in the shooting, nor have they said what type it was or how much ammunition Wagner had.

Huff said he struck up a conversation with Wagner one day about three years ago after he noticed the teen lugging a guitar past the shop. Wagner would occasionally stop at the store to chat. Over time, Huff came to trust him enough to allow Wagner to mind the shop when Huff had to step out.

Huff said Wagner was honest, polite and willing to go out of his way to help. The shopkeeper was frustrated by reports that Wagner was bullied from grade school into high school. Why, Huff wondered, did those people who knew he was hurting not help him? Was he getting the help he needed?

“There was a comment made that of all people in Antigo, he would be the one that they would suspect as a shooter and that … did a lot to me," he said. "You know, if they knew that he was in this situation and felt that way, why something wasn’t said?"

"Why wait until after the young man has done what he’s done, he’s no longer with us, to say something like that?”

Like Huff, Wagner's friend Mosher was left struggling for answers.

"I cried for a solid 10 minutes when I heard the news," Mosher said. "My mother came in and said, 'what's the matter?' and I said, 'Mom, that shooting last night? That was Jakob.'

"Jakob was my friend."

USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin reporter Alison Dirr contributed to this story

dschneid@greenbaypressgazette.com and follow him on Twitter @PGDougSchneider