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.
What's the 'age factor' in becoming a soldier? If you knew what kind of people can manage to get hired into local Mayberry PD's it would make your hair stand on end---but then the same could be said for the Army.
That overhead pic gave me the chills. Yeesh.
About that other article involving Brian Marvin and his wife, I would be GREATLY surprised if any part of it was true. In HS he drank a lot and was NOT a good kid he was a bully and extremely manipulative. After graduating he was not any better. I do not know his wife, but the whole “you are who you hang with” idea comes to mind.
~~~
Yeah,,,That “walkin’ by a tree-line” gave me chills too,,,
At my age “birds of a feather” comes to mind...
Prayers Up For Ya’ll...
I knew. (search is my friend:’) Now do you know what a Chupacabra is?
I knew. (search is my friend:’) Now do you know what a Chupacabra is?
“point of standardizing age minimums and mental health evaluations”
Somebody got shot....awwwww heeeeellllll. Now we hear about standardizing things with minimums and maximums, ensuring evaluations are administered. How’d all that come into play?
While screening might be improved, no one is responsible here except the shooter.
How is your nephew doing?
Exactly.
I used to have a Hodag statue as a little kid, a souvenier of my family’s many visits to Rhinelander. My folks had a cottage in Three Lakes for many years. The Northwoods is a wonderful place to unwind. This is so sad for Crandon.
Well, I only live about 45 miles south of Rhinelander, so have grown up hearing about the hodag. I also listen to George Noory every night so of course I know about Chupacabras. :)
“I think it came into play when they gave an assault rifle to an unstable 20 year old.”
What happens to that argument when it’s a 9mm in the hands of a stable 20 year old with the same results?
The 8th of November is comin’ up soon,,,
“19 and Green With A New M-16” comes to mind...
It wasn’t an arguement. You asked when it came into play and I told you.
Oh... ok. Thanks.
I do not wish to be hard-hearted at a time like this... but the police are not any more capable than anyone else, and they are not here to save anyone, they are just the first responders, like the EMTs in the ambulances.
Their training is just that, training. You can not make someone, something that they aren’t, no matter what you tell them.
This guy had serious flaws, that should come out as obvious as time goes on. Heck, we all have serious flaws. Maybe they will discover a brain tumor or something like that.
Do not bet that anyone is in any trouble for any major screw up. The only likely trouble is some embarrassing news conferences and process changes at the police department.
There was evidence of violence surrounding homeless in the woods that are on two sides of my house. The police, community groups, zoning people, and the PTA of the elementary school listened to me for two years while I complained. Finally this violent guy who had been camping out in those woods for two years killed some other homeless woman in a very brutal manner. You think anyone was in trouble. Absolutely not. I was still written off as a kook. Yeah a person or two said that I was right all along, but by that time my image was made.
The police are only first responders, nothing more. Am I missing anything?
That's a matter of definition. Since there is no scientific meaning to the term "snapping" there is no expert opinion to be had on the matter. What is well known and beyond dispute scientifically is that there is a response continuum from thought to action which is subject to, amomg other things, arousal("stress") level.
It is a virtual 100% finding, for example, that incidents of domestic violence are preceded by escalation of verbal conflict. After a certain point, someone goes into physical action and hurts someone. Can that be described as 'snapping?' It can be if you want it to, because the word means only whatever you want it to mean. In this case it has been reported that a lengthy argument preceded the shooting. Did the argument lead to a "snap?" Who knows. I have known combat veterans who "snapped" and won serious decorations because they took it out on the enemy.
The point is that people can act in unpredictable ways under an extreme stress level, and often do. You can like it or not but it's a fact of life.
Hey,,,I hoped you were on,,,
Nanny State krappola if you ask me !!
This is a “sore-spot” with me,,,
Words fail me :(
What’s up with the thread...I haven’t read the whole thing. Don’t know what the new sign-ups are looking for or talking about. Any idea?
Oh, and did I tell you I shot my first dog when I was 7. Yep, he was mine. Poor guy wouldn’t hunt :)) (LMAO)
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