A not-guilty plea was entered for a former college wrestler accused of shooting his champion gymnast girlfriend.

On Friday, Chad T. Richards, 23, pleaded not guilty to fatally shooting his girlfriend, Kara Welsh, 21, during his arraignment at Walworth County Court. Richards’s attorney, Gibson D. Hatch of Middleton, entered the plea for his client, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Welsh was killed on August 30, just before midnight, at her apartment less than a mile from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater campus, WISN reported.

Around midnight on August 31, Whitewater police arrested Richards, a former wrestler and current student at the college, as CrimeOnline previously reported.

Richards’s bond was set at $1 million on September 3. Whitewater police stated that the two had an altercation before the shooting.

Welsh, from Illinois, was entering her senior year at the school, majoring in business and economics management. She won the individual national title in the vault event in gymnastics last year.

“There are no words to describe the void we all feel in our hearts, but Kara’s legacy will live on through Warhawk gymnastics forever,” said her college coach, Jen Regan.

Richards is scheduled to return to court on January 23 for a status conference.

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Featured image: Kara Welsh/GoFundMe]