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.
Open carry is allowed by state law however. I'd imagine there was quite a bit of "open carry" going on between the time this went down and the perp was shot by the SWAT team.
I respectfully disagree. I think it's working very well. Unfortunately, good news doesn't sell, so the media won't print all the good things that LEOs do every day. All we hear about are the bad things that a few do.
Here is a link to a local news report from Channel 9 - WAOW, in Wausau, WI:
Gunman Dead - Shooting Kills 6 in Crandon
http://www.waow.com/News/index.php?ID=16617
The suspect — a 20-year-old Sheriff’s Deputy — is deceased from either a sniper, or a self-inflicted gunshot to the head (Authorities said they will confirm which tomorrow). Unfortunately, six people were killed by this young man a little bit before 3 a.m. this morning. There was apparently an ongoing dispute between the suspect and his ex-girlfriend (one of the people who was killed).
What a sad thing to have happen — especially in such a small community. Prayers for the whole town and especially the family and friends of all who are deceased...
Other than no CCW/CHL the WI laws do not appear to be all that strict. They have their own background check, with $8 fee, for hand guns, but long guns appear to have few or no controls beyond the federal ones. It is a hunting state after all.
They also have a "strong" RKBA provision in the state constitution.
The people have the right to keep and bear arms for security, defense, hunting, recreation or any other lawful purpose. WISC. CONST. art. 1, § 25
Several stories indicate that he was both an employee of one Sheriff's department and a part time deputy in another county.
Tons of guns here in Wisconsin... Mostly long guns as you stated at least up North here, but plenty of arms and ammo nonetheless. As for handguns, we SHOULD have CCW permits and IIRC we’ve been trying to get that changed for a few years now... Not helpful having a Democrat for a governor though. He’ll raise our taxes till the cows come home, but doesn’t want people to be able to defend themselves... go figure...
Not on our local news at least... Tonight’s 10pm news reports are clearly stating that the suspect was a Sheriff’s Deputy. Don’t think they’ll be able to spin this, really...
You are correct. In my defense, early stories said a full time employee. That could be a dispatcher, or a clerk in the jail. But the later stories do say he was a full time deputy in Forest Co.
But "only police and military should have weapons", ask Sarah Brady.
You’re right about a CCW not being a factor in this particular situation... He walked into a party full of teens and started shooting from what I’ve heard. I don’t think any of them would’ve had a weapon on them even if we DID have concealed carry... This was a YOUNG crowd of local kids...
Ok. I just knew about the ccw problem. This is so tragic but bad things happen sometimes. I hate it when people use rare occurrences to try to promote their agenda though, don’t you?
Breaking news is always confusing. I wasn’t trying to criticize.
Some places yes, others not so much. Under Guiliani, and his "small crimes" enforcement policies, it was working pretty well in New York City, not because of it's gun control laws, but in spite of them. In DC, it doesn't work for spit. It doesn't depend as much on police as it does courts and politicians. If the courts put the perps away and the bureaucrats and politicians devote enough resources to keep them away, then there is a deterrent effect.. except in those sub cultures where getting sent to jail or prison is a badge of manhood.
“I hate it when people use rare occurrences to try to promote their agenda though, don’t you?”
Yep, I sure do... The only thing we have here is a Sheriff’s Deputy upset about a romantic relationship that went “off the deep-end”. It really has nothing to do with guns or permits, but you are right about people wanting to read so much into things like this. Next thing you know they’ll start saying 20 is too young to be a cop, or something because they surely can’t suggest cops not being allowed to carry. (I can think of a few things the gun-grabbers COULD come up with to suggest in light of this, but I won’t give them any ideas...).
There may have been another gun in the house . Some reports say a second officer was there. He might not have been armed though.
Sounds like a high capacity pistol, like the Glocks that many departments and individual police favor these days, but possibly a rifle, with one reload.
Let’s hope they NEVER go that route... If ANYONE should have total access to a weapon it is a police officer.
SOP for the modern Demoncrat. Wasn't always so.
"Certainly one of the chief guarantees of freedom under any government, no matter how popular and respected, is the right of citizens to keep and bear arms.... The right of citizens to bear arms is just one guarantee against arbitrary government, one more safeguard against the tyranny which now appears remote in America but which historically has proven to be always possible."
by: Hubert H. Humphrey (1911-1978) US Vice-President, US Senator (D-MN) Source: "Know Your Lawmakers," Guns magazine, February 1960, p.6
A male witness who heard the gunshots and was interviewed on Channel 12 (NBC), said it sounded like firecrackers going off (he was at least a block away). He said it was a LOT of gunshots that he heard... Could’ve been more than one gun. The authorities only held a VERY short news conference so at this point I’d say anything is possible. If another cop was there it could’ve been a gun fight at that point... I guess we’ll hear more in the coming days. The MO though is that the suspect was upset over a dispute with an ex-girlfriend (I think it was her apartment IIRC).
Yep... Democrats of OLD are MUCH different than the Democrats of modern-day. I really wish all the farmers here in Wisconsin would realize that!!! * Smacks self on forehead * I don’t think that many of them realize that the Democrat Party has strayed so far from their OLD ways... (Thank the socialists for that!!!).
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