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.
“””Honestly, it’s NOT as common as it would seem. You have to consider the numbers... The population of the entire United States is enormously larger than that of England.”””
Very true. It’s 5 times the population size of the U.K. The U.K has around 50 to 100 gun murders per year. However, America has on average over 10,000 gun murders each year. That’s 100 to 200 times the number that the U.K suffers, but only 5 times the population.
As I said, I can see why you as an American like to see police armed with guns but it’s a different story here. We find it ‘normal’ to have police without guns.
If I lived in America I would also be happier to see cops with guns...seeing as almost everybody else there has them. It seems only right and fair.
“”aren’t your knife murder rates rather high now?””
It’s still not all that high. England’s average murder rate(all causes)per year is somewhere around 500 to 800. In the last year for figures (2005/2006) England suffered around 700 murders, that was including the London bombings. That same period, America suffered nearly 17,000 murders. That’s around 24 times the murders yet, again, America only has 5 times the population.
Besides, I’d rather deal with somebody carrying a knife than a gun. A person wielding a knife cannot storm through a college campus wiping out entire classrooms within the blink of an eye before anybody can stop him.
“”The media makes it sound like these things happen ALL the time — which it doesn’t. You also have to consider how many law-abiding citizens own guns in our country that NEVER make the news, or are able to protect themselves from those who mean to do them harm (Those stories almost NEVER make the news and happen a LOT more than things like the one today...).””
All of that I agree with. You are quite right. Sensational headlines are obviously the ones we are going to hear about.
“”Anyway... I’m glad to know you at least have S.W.A.T. teams when needed — especially in light of the terrorist events there...””
Well, terrorism here is nothing new. Terrorism might be seen as the new thing for a lot of Americans but we had it far worse in the 1970s and 1980s with the Irish scumbags. We dealt with those cowards and we’ll deal with these Islamics. The average person on the street thinks less about Islamic terrorists than they did the IRA in years gone by. I remember working in London in the 1980s and there were bomb scares almost on a daily basis. You got used to it in the end hehe.
“”I just worry that someday you all might come across a situation where a S.W.A.T. might be too late, and an armed bobby could’ve prevented a massacre...””
Again, that’s a good point. On the other hand many criminals DON’T carry guns because they know the cops don’t have them so it’s swings and roundabouts. If all cops had guns then likely all serious criminals would too. That isn’t the case right now.
Cheers.
Check the link in #416....
The feds (with NEVER ENDING FUNDS to police CITIZENS) helped to fund this county's SWAT team back in 2000.
I’ll just note if not for insane King George, we wouldn’t have considered the 2nd Amendment....(chuckle)
- He fired at responding officers.
- Will -not- confirm Peterson was shot by a police sniper hours later.
- Lots of administrative back slapping.
- Will not speculate on motive.
Per press conf- Peterson came in to apartment and got into argument with people inside..went out to his vehic and came back in with gun- shot 30 rounds...left. While driving around he got on phone with police chief and said he did it- eventually he and cops ended up at a house several miles away- gunfire was exchanged and Peterson then died. Autopsy will determine if he died from self-inflicted or police gunfire..
-What- are you listening to?
So I’ve heard.
My point is that nobody ‘just snaps’. Thats a time honored myth thats been debunked by experts for years.
Watch and see what comes out about the killer in the next few days and weeks.
They just had a live press conf on TV...all the cables had it on
The gun used was an AR 15
- Crandon Police Chief said that the 20 year old off duty cop “met all requirements” to be a police officer.
- Attempts were made to negotiate on the phone.
- No motive no further details no further questions allowed.
- The assembled authorities quickly filed out after being asked details of the Argonne hostage situation after the initial shooting.
Thank you for the ping.
With brain studies which show that the pre-frontal cortex (the area of the brain involve with rational thought and emotional control) not maturing until the mid 20’s you’d think that such high stress jobs would take the age factor into account in the hiring process.
For this one 20 y/o there are many good 20 y/o cops.
Exactly. Let’s see now..when was the last time we heard about a 20 yo LEO going nuts and killing 6 people?
Not sure that his being a cop has anything to do with what happened.
“Not very high requirements, if you ask me.”
well really...in small towns it is very difficult to have high standards when they cannot afford to pay them well or invest in excellent training.
I look at our small town police force and most of them are decent folks. I can think of a few that you would describe as excellent - and God bless them because they don’t get paid much.
But there IS a certain element out there - the overly aggressive guy with a chip on his shoulder who is very eager to harrass people.
You see this type of guy getting in bar fights when he’s off duty.
If he had been a truck driver he could still have taken his shot gun and did this. It does have something to do with being a cop in the aspect that he was hired to protect people though.
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.
IMO this might not be the type of person to be a LEO.
Understood. But he wasn’t on duty- this didn’t happen while he was in uniform.
I’m agreeing with you:’)
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