Posted on 10/07/2007 10:23:40 AM PDT by janetjanet998
Edited on 10/07/2007 10:34:41 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
Nothing seemed out of the ordinary Saturday night when Tyler Peterson met up with a bunch of friends in a parking lot behind a Crandon bank.
They talked about hunting, what to do later that night. Typical stuff. That was it. It was 8:30 p.m.
But before the sun would rise, Peterson, a 20-year-old, off-duty Forest County sheriff's deputy and part-time City of Crandon police officer, would be suspected of storming into his ex-girlfriend's house and killing her and five other young people at a party, including two of his best childhood buddies.
Another teen was critically wounded.
Peterson would later end up dead, shot by the Crandon SWAT team.
"He must have just snapped," said a close friend who had known Peterson since they were in kindergarten and talked to him in the parking lot Saturday night. "He seemed fine (at 8:30 p.m.)."
Authorities in Crandon, about 180 miles north of Milwaukee, did not release details of the killings or the names of the victims Sunday, but the Journal Sentinel learned from interviews with families and friends that the following were killed:
• Jordanne Murray, 18, Peterson's former longtime sweetheart, who graduated from Crandon High School in 2006.
• Katrina McCorkle, an 18-year-old senior at Crandon High.
• Leanna Thomas, also an 18-year-old senior at Crandon.
• Bradley Schultz, 20, a 2005 graduate of Crandon and a student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee majoring in criminal justice.
• Aaron Smith, called "Chunk" by his friends, also a 2005 graduate of Crandon. His age was not available.
• Lindsey Stahl, 14, a freshman at Crandon.
Charlie Nietzel, 19, of the neighboring town of Pickerel was wounded. He was in critical condition late Sunday at St. Joseph's Hospital in Marshfield.
Because a local law enforcement officer was involved, the investigation is being handled by the state Department of Criminal Investigation. Officials would not disclose any information Sunday other than to say authorities responded to a report of shots fired at 2:47 a.m., and that six people and the killer were dead.
Three-term Crandon Mayor Gary Bradley expressed anger and frustration at the state's handling of the case, complaining about a lack of information for officials and families and the length of time being taken in removing the bodies from the home.
"Man, they paralyzed this town," he said.
Bradley confirmed that Peterson was shot and killed by the Crandon SWAT team Sunday afternoon, hours after the early morning shootings.
Although few in Crandon knew exactly what happened in Murray's home, in a town where the population barely pushes 2,000, seemingly everyone knew the victims or the shooter.
Fay Statezny has known the Petersons and the families of several of the other victims for 20 years or more. Statezny said Tyler Peterson was "a normal kid" who liked to hunt and fish and loved the outdoors.
He had grown up with Smith and Schultz, and they were all very close friends.
"We would all go mud-running and ice fishing," said Peterson's longtime friend from kindergarten, who didn't want his name published because of the sensitivity of the situation.
He said Peterson and Murray had been together for a long time and broke up earlier this year. He debunked rumors that Murray was dating someone else, sparking a jealous rage in Peterson.
Paul Pitts, a 17-year-old senior, said Peterson was the type of guy who was picked on by students when he was in high school.
Other friends and neighbors said Peterson, who was officially deputized in February, had recently completed special-forces-type training.
It made sense to Jenny Stahl that her 14-year-old daughter, Lindsey, should stay the night at Murray's house. After all, it was homecoming weekend; lots of kids were sleeping at friends' homes. It cut down on the late-night driving. It would be safer that way, they thought.
Lindsey Stahl and Murray both worked at an ice cream and hamburger stand called Eats and Treats in Crandon. They stopped at Stahl's home around 9 p.m. to pick up a change of clothes.
At 8 a.m. Sunday, Jenny Stahl got a knock on her door. Her neighbor told her of the slayings and took her to Praise Chapel Community Church, where she waited with the families of the other victims for word about their loved ones. Stahl hoped for the best.
"I thought maybe she wasn't there, maybe she got out," Stahl said in an interview in her driveway, where she stood with friends and neighbors hugging and drinking Pepsi.
She waited eight hours. At 4 p.m., authorities announced the names of the dead. Lindsey was on the list.
The 14-year-old's half brother, Ryan Coulter, 12, said his sister was smart and interested in issues ranging from global warming to animal rights.
"She probably would have changed the world, you know," he said.
Jenny Stahl grew up in Kenosha and moved her family to Crandon because she thought the small community would be a safer place for her children to grow up.
Elsie Murray, Jordanne's grandmother, said the family was not able Sunday to talk about what happened.
Friends said Jordanne lived in the lower level of the house and her father, Paul Murray, lived in the upper level.
Kelly Flanery, 15, a sophomore at Crandon High, knew all of the victims and said that in addition to working at the ice cream shop, Jordanne Murray worked at Subway in Crandon.
She "was like the nicest person. She was friends with everyone," said Flanery. "I didn't believe it at first. It didn't like sink in, it really hasn't."
Schultz grew up in Crandon but moved to Cudahy two years ago to attend UW-Milwaukee, where he was a junior, said his uncle Steve Bocek, who lives in Oak Creek. Schultz worked part-time at a Racine electrical supply company to pay for school.
The middle of three boys, Schultz often drove to Crandon on weekends to visit his mother, who is blind with retinitis pigmentosa, and younger brother.
"He was just always a nice kid, always polite. He just wanted to come down here to go to school so he could further his education," said Bocek, who last saw his nephew three weeks ago when Schultz visited to swim in Bocek's backyard pool.
Schultz, who had a girlfriend in the Milwaukee area, had played basketball and baseball at Crandon High School.
"He was such a good kid; who would ever expect this?" his uncle said.
McCorkle and Jordanne Murray had been "friends forever," said a former boyfriend of McCorkle's. McCorkle loved to play softball and was thinking about where to attend college, he said. And she was very tight with her family.
"Her family meant everything to her," he said.
Friends said Smith, or "Chunk," as friends called him, was into football and loved to fish.
"He was one of them guys that everybody gets along with," said a childhood friend who also grew up with Peterson and Schultz.
Smith's sister said her family was grieving and couldn't talk.
Thomas' grandfather, Roy Thomas, said his granddaughter has a twin sister, Lindsay. "She was a sweet little girl," he said tearfully before hanging up the phone.
As streets were barricaded near the shooting scene, the soul of Crandon seemed to shake with grief.
"This is affecting everybody in this small community," said Tom Vollmar, a Forest County supervisor who has lived in Crandon for 57 years. "There's no family that hasn't been touched in one way or another."
Schools Superintendent Richard Peters said the victims and Peterson were all "people who we have known or patted on the back or encouraged at one point in time."
Crandon High School's crisis team gathered twice Sunday. Counselors fanned out to area churches to help families and friends of the victims who had gathered there.
School is canceled today.
Praise Chapel Community Church Pastor Bill Farr was called by the Forest County Sheriff's Department at 6:30 a.m. Sunday and asked to open the church for victims' families and other members of the community. About 200 people showed up during the day. He said it took so long for authorities to release the names because state investigators were handling the case.
More than a dozen hours later, Farr was still at the church.
"This is going to take a long time for a community like this to get over," said Farr, who has lived in Crandon for many years.
Standing next to his pickup truck in the church parking lot Sunday night, Farr began to cry as he held hands and prayed with three other church members.
"We just really need everyone's prayers right now," he said.
We can’t end this thread on that “I LOVE that album” note. Can we?
History has taught that we suffer from insufficient paranoia.
Maybe I’m just sexist, but I really can tell when a news story is written by a woman. They read like romance novels. It’s always feelings, feelings, feelings.
“That is beyond ridiculous. There is definitely something going on that they are trying to cover up. Who knows if we will ever find out what it is, but I have no doubt at all that there is something.”
People
THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT AND BEURACRACIES IN ANY SORT OF EMERGENCY IS TO PROTECT THEMSELVES ABOVE ALL ELSE -FIRST-.
13 1/2 hours for victim notification clearly shows you what the priorities were.
Interesting.......City of Crandon employs only 3 full-time cops, yet they have a "heavily-armed SWAT team".
http://www.crandonwi.com/profile2.jpg
guess not!
Don’t hold your breath......
I would say it beyond interesting, and more in line of out of the world stupied. Pissing away tax payers money.
I was referring to the comment that someone had said that the snot noise punk might have been a jack booted thug member of a swat team and therefor had a full auto weapon. So are you telling me he could own a full auto?
I agree, tho he probably went through some training program & in truth, some people never outgrow a hot head. Thing is, by selecting those who are a bit older, it's easier to tell.
TWO IMPORTANT QUESTIONS?
1) Was the gun used, paid for by taxpayers and only available to LEO?
2) Is there any drug history with this perp? Ritalin, etc?
Who wants to bet we’ll never know or certainly won’t find out without a legal fight.
TWO IMPORTANT QUESTIONS?
1) Was the gun used, paid for by taxpayers and only available to LEO?
2) Is there any drug history with this perp? Ritalin, etc?
Who wants to bet we’ll never know or certainly won’t find out without a legal fight.
Got “temorarily unavailable” message from freeper server so I went back and re-clicked.
Just think, when every community has their own "heavily-armed SWAT team" taxpayers will then be safe....then the 'gun-grabbers' can move in.
Love your tag....my top answer would be "13 letters".
Since January 2000 alone, six SWAT teams were put into action in the state, most recently in tiny Forest County, where only 18 patrol officers serve a 1,000-square-mile jurisdiction with a population of just over 9,000.
‘”He must have just snapped,” said a close friend who had known Peterson since they were in kindergarten and talked to him in the parking lot Saturday night. “He seemed fine (at 8:30 p.m.).”’
Nobody ‘just snaps’. Thats an urban myth perpetuated by the mainstream media outlets every time something like this happens.
Watch and see, in coming weeks we will learn this guy had previous problems.
They always do. ALWAYS.
2) Is there any drug history with this perp? Ritalin, etc?
Who wants to bet we’ll never know or certainly won’t find out without a legal fight.
Interesting.......City of Crandon employs only 3 full-time cops, yet they have a "heavily-armed SWAT team".
I'm glad someone else was concerned with this overlooked little factoid. Why does a city of less than 2,000 people need a SWAT team??? Easily obtained Homeland Security equipment and financing??? Weekend Rambo wannabes??? I wonder if they've gotten their Armored Personnel Carrier yet???
Good info...also interesting that this was PRE 9-11.
To sell local governments on the need for SWAT teams, police officials usually talk about preparedness for terrorist incidents or barricaded hostage situations. But once trained, SWAT personnel are most commonly used to serve drug warrants and make drug arrests. The federal war on drugs provides powerful incentives for stepped-up police activity, handing out money on the basis of the number of arrests scored.
Gov't can always find the funds to police us CITIZENS.....
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