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.
I read in one article that a sniper took Peterson out and that the weapon Peterson used to kill with was LE issued.
I also read that he worked for the County full time since he was 19 yrs old and that he worked for the small town he did the killings in, part time and had started working for the town about 1 week ago.
Why are 18 year olds allowed to manage multi-million dollar weapon systems in Irag and Afghanistan?
I think it’s more about the selection process and training than the age.
Despite alot of criticism of modern teens, I have worked with some very capable young adults. By the same token I have also seen some real dunderheads.
I have also encountered a whole bunch of emotionally stunted 50 year olds. Age is only one part of the equation.
Great. Ignore the original question and go off on a red herring. I raised a valid question; you wish to white wash it. Okay. No point in further discussion when all you want to do is ignore a valid question.
Perhaps. But, age does have a lot to do with being in control of one’s emotions. I’ve watched my own sons grow up, along with many many of their friends. And I’ve seen first hand how at that age there is a lack of maturity and perspective taking involved. I recall my own self at that age, and this is a common thread among young men. Was this one person mentally ill? Was he just not able to fully control his anger/rage? I do not know. But, it’s a well documented phenomenon that the older men get the less likely they are to engage in this type of violent behavior (given that they do not have any mental illness).
True. But, the Army and the Marines do have a vetting process which does eliminate most of the undesirables before they are loosed upon the battle field. Unfortunately, that does not always work and some who become unhinged give the rest a bad and undeserved rep. Of coures, the battle field is a completely different world than one’s own neighborhood here in the U.S. (with the exception of certain areas of the country of course).
That right that's why we like to keep guns out of the hands of nut cases.
Mental evaluation of anyone in this type of position should be a mandatory annual and random requirement. No difference than annual and random blood and drug tests.
I think it’s more about the selection process and training than the age.
Those men are aways, AWAYS, under the direct supervision of an office are a mature supervisor of rank. You don't let a young private stroll around with an assault weapon and a pocket full of ammo they are supervised.
Where have you seen that the mayor *issued* these orders ???
News I have read said that "state officials" were called in shortly after this incident......SOP since cops were involved.
My guess would be that "state officials" also *gagged* the mayor from talking to the press.
So why did you bother to jump in at all? Your lack of interest, and compassion sticks out like a sore thumb.
No, you certainly can’t. I see it proven over and over again. How about that Jedward, we agree on something.
Not very high requirements, if you ask me.
Our local department's ranks include a convicted drug felon, caught trying to bring a package of 1000+ doses of Schedule 2 narcotic into our community via the US Mail.
He now has a department-issued Glock handgun and an AR15.
There are indeed those who have drawn a line that will not be crossed, sometimnes by others, sometimes by themselves. And if that line is crossed, all the rules and limits are off.
It now appears that being called *A worthless pig* was what made Tyler Peterson snap.
Whoa! I didn’t intentionally ignore anything. I had to go to work. I’ll go back and look but.... WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?
I really believe that there can be good people with no history that can under the wrong circumstances do something that they will regret the rest of their lives. If he had not have gone back in he might have lived normally for the rest of his life. JMO.
Just so, or can experience something at that pivotal point that changes or affects them so profoundly as to alter their future into something they'd not have imagined prior to that focused moment.
If he had not have gone back in he might have lived normally for the rest of his life.
And so he did, though for him *normal* life had changed considerably, and the rest of his life was not very long. He might also have swallowed his pride and gotten into his vehicle and have his life end in a fatal vehicle crash, with or without additional casualties. In which case it's most unlikely that we'd have heard of or have noticed his exit from this world.
But I very much doubt that publicity or public attention was what he was after.
This? See post 485
This? See post 485
As I’ve noted, and we will see in coming weeks, there is much more to this guy’s background then is being made public.
Watch and see. Again, nobody ‘just snaps’. Its a myth. There is always a ‘previous history’ of incidents, that perhaps didn’t draw much attention when they occured, but in hindsight its clear as a bell.
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