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6 friends killed at party in Crandon (WI) - 1 hurt; hours later, SWAT team kills shooter
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel ^ | 10/7/07 | RAQUEL RUTLEDGE

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]

6 friends killed at party in Crandon

1 hurt; hours later, SWAT team kills shooter

By RAQUEL RUTLEDGE
rrutledge@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Oct. 7, 2007

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.

Many connections

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.

A homecoming sleepover

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."

Home to visit his mother

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.

A grieving town

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.


TOPICS: Breaking News; Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events; US: Wisconsin
KEYWORDS: banglist; beserkcop; crandon; donutwatch; leo; shooting; tylerpeterson; wisconsin
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To: El Gato

Yep, and then he’s already in too much trouble to go making any more, except for the enemy of course.
~~~
True Dat,,,

Point : This shooter was not Screened !.Period.Bottom~Line.

No that ain’t a “cure~all”,,,But we gotta use what we got...


661 posted on 10/10/2007 8:41:16 PM PDT by 1COUNTER-MORTER-68 (THROWING ANOTHER BULLET-RIDDLED TV IN THE PILE OUT BACK~~~~~)
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To: VRing

Good reply.


662 posted on 10/11/2007 6:50:04 AM PDT by Badeye (Free Willie!)
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To: NorthwoodsGirl

‘He called the step father of the girl that was killed to tell him what he had done and basically rub it in his face. He also told him that they would never get him alive. What sort of person does that, and what kind of person would actually take the side of someone that twisted?’

The kind that built up rage for years. It completely debunks the comment thats always offered up in the aftermath of these sort of things, like in the original article at the top of this thread; ‘He just snapped’.

Thats a urban myth. Nobody ‘just snaps’.

Its how the liberal MSM tries to avoid blaming a person for their actions.


663 posted on 10/11/2007 6:52:29 AM PDT by Badeye (Free Willie!)
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To: GovernmentShrinker

I knew immediately the shootings were not ‘justified’.

Have you ever in your life heard of a cop killing a half dozen people by himself that was afterwards ‘justified’?

I haven’t.


664 posted on 10/11/2007 6:56:15 AM PDT by Badeye (Free Willie!)
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To: VRing

Most of us are waiting for more information before opining on whether the shootings could possibly have been justified”

Lets see here. He’s 21, one of the victims is an ex, there were 6 shot and he ran away afterwards. How much info do you need?

Exactly.


665 posted on 10/11/2007 6:57:08 AM PDT by Badeye (Free Willie!)
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To: janetjanet998

What I would like to know is how long the SWAT team waited out side before doing something? I am convinced that SWAT teams goals is not about saving the maximum number of lives.


666 posted on 10/11/2007 7:01:05 AM PDT by wintertime (Good ideas win! Why? Because people are not stupid.)
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To: michigander

‘A witness says 10 area youth between the ages of 17 and 20 were at the home at the time of the shooting.’

If this is true, we’re going to find out exactly what led up to this massacre, what happened while it was taking place. And how some managed to escape.


667 posted on 10/11/2007 7:02:17 AM PDT by Badeye (Free Willie!)
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To: Alizeron

Welcome to FR


668 posted on 10/11/2007 9:18:24 AM PDT by null and void (Lib-uh-rulz can't foresee even the clearest consequences to their actions...)
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To: 1COUNTER-MORTER-68
My dad got "fragged" sort of. The troops were angry with his "roommate" (because the guy was a real martinet jerk) and someone expressed their displeasure with a red smoke grenade.

Dad said he had pink underwear for months...

669 posted on 10/11/2007 9:32:11 AM PDT by null and void (Lib-uh-rulz can't foresee even the clearest consequences to their actions...)
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To: NorthwoodsGirl; mrsjeades; smalltownlady; huskylover; rhinelanderwi

Thinking of you...


670 posted on 10/11/2007 9:34:02 AM PDT by null and void (Lib-uh-rulz can't foresee even the clearest consequences to their actions...)
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To: Badeye

There were only the six that were shot. The ten was just a wrong early report.


671 posted on 10/11/2007 4:55:06 PM PDT by rhinelanderwi
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To: rhinelanderwi

Excuse me, seven, one survived to tell the tale.


672 posted on 10/11/2007 4:57:49 PM PDT by rhinelanderwi
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To: null and void

Sounds like that was a warning...


673 posted on 10/11/2007 5:20:30 PM PDT by 1COUNTER-MORTER-68 (THROWING ANOTHER BULLET-RIDDLED TV IN THE PILE OUT BACK~~~~~)
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To: All

some 911 audio is on jsonline.com


674 posted on 10/11/2007 5:23:19 PM PDT by rhinelanderwi
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To: 1COUNTER-MORTER-68
Funny thing that. Shortly thereafter his roommate was given a couple new assignments that got him out of the disciple loop.

They put Dad in charge of that.

A couple months later the base commander called my dad and asked “What happened to the discipline problem?” Dad said “What problem?” The commander said, “That’s what I wanted to hear.” and rung off.

It seems the Marines much preferred to be sent to fill sandbags. They viewed it as an honorable and appropriate punishment that allowed them to work off their aggression and energy, provided something that the base always needed, and more importantly didn’t end up in their personnel jacket to mess up their future careers and promotions.

My Dad’s a wiseguy in more ways than one...

675 posted on 10/11/2007 5:32:18 PM PDT by null and void (Lib-uh-rulz can't foresee even the clearest consequences to their actions...)
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To: null and void

My Dad’s a wiseguy in more ways than one...
~~
Bump Dat,,,Sometimes life depends on sandbags...


676 posted on 10/11/2007 5:58:18 PM PDT by 1COUNTER-MORTER-68 (THROWING ANOTHER BULLET-RIDDLED TV IN THE PILE OUT BACK~~~~~)
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To: 1COUNTER-MORTER-68

I have wondered how the shooter was able to leave the scene of the massacre after he fired on a fellow officer’s car. Well it turns out that the first responder responded by turning tail and running. And he’s being called a hero for it:

www.wjfw.com...
21-Year-Old Greg Carter is the Police Officer who heard the gun shots fired early Sunday morning. Carter put the car in reverse and sped away. He wasn’t hit by any bullets, but he was cut from the flying glass. Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen is praising Carter for his actions. Van Hollen says, “Officer Carter displayed a tremendous amount of bravery and intelligence during this trying time. He performed exactly as trained under these circumstances, saving his life.

So quite clearly the life of the hero is more important than any innocent victim that might be in the gunman’s way. But what do we expect anymore? At Columbine the cops waited outside the library while the trenchcoat mafia massacred the kids within.


677 posted on 10/11/2007 10:07:10 PM PDT by starviego
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To: starviego
Way too many incidents of LEO surrounding a scene and letting the victims and the perp bleed out before making any attempt to actually enter the scene of the assault.

Vermont Tech, Colombine, Denver Post Office, Illinois Navistar, Texas McDonalds, on and on......

- The first rule of government is to protect themselves, not you.

- Government has no legal responsibility to protect any single individual from any specific known threat.

- An unrestrained government will make every effort to eliminate your ability to defend yourself.

It took a multitude of WI LEO -11 hours- to confront the Crandon shooter.

Then our AG gives us the whopper that the shooter shot himself THREE TIMES IN THE HEAD with a .40 Glock.

Wisconsin is starting to make Arkansas look good......

678 posted on 10/12/2007 5:58:45 AM PDT by Milwaukee_Guy (Don't hit them between the eyes. Hit them right -in- the eyes!)
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To: All
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=673598

Timeline: Crandon shootings
Posted: Oct. 11, 2007
State authorities continue to investigate exactly what happened between the time Tyler Peterson arrived at his friend’s house Sunday after slaying six young people in Crandon until his death.

Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen released a timeline of events surrounding the crime that revealed some new details, such as that Peterson may have been intoxicated, but did not explain some time gaps or account for many 911 calls that people at the house say they made - including while Peterson reportedly took a nap in his pickup truck .

The state Department of Criminal Investigation is overseeing the case. Officials with the department have refused to release the 911 tapes or autopsy reports or respond to any questions about the case.

(Timeline is from department. Text in italics is added for context.)

Midnight: Tyler drops off Katie and Matt at cabin (Matt Kegley is Tyler’s friend. Katie is Matt’s girlfriend. The cabin is the Kegley home in Argonne, north of Crandon)

2:30: Tyler arrives at Hazeldell residence (203 N. Hazeldell Ave. is where killings took place)

2:43: Tyler walks out of Hazeldell residence first time and retrieves gun

2:47: Shots reported by Crandon police officer

2:48: Shots fired at Crandon police officer

2:51: 203 N. Hazeldell reports gunshots, black truck

2:53: Laona and Wabeno medics paged

2:55: Dispatcher advises squads that shooter is at 201 N. Hazeldell (It is not clear why the address is different)

3:00: Tyler starts to drive to see his brother, then drives aimlessly around Lincoln, Forest and Langlade counties

3:01: Ambulance arrives at scene

3:09: Dep. Ashbeck requests Tyler Peterson to call him

3:10: Chief Dep. Ken Van Cleve requests Dep. Tyler Peterson to call him or meet him

4:20: DCI Assistance Requested

4:30: DCI en route (DCI is state Department of Criminal Investigation)

4:53: Tyler makes contact with law enforcement

5:10: Steve Peterson gets off phone with Tyler (Steve is Tyler’s father)

5:13: Tyler indicates there is no taking back what he did - tell others

5:58: Contact State Patrol to provide troopers to assist with crowd control and scene containment (People are gathering at the home where the shootings occurred)

7:50: Tyler goes to cabin (Kegley house)

7:55: Tyler tells people at cabin what he did, seems intoxicated. Tyler says he would turn himself in to John Dennee. Sometime later Mary puts Tyler’s AR-15 on porch swing after Tyler gives it up. Took two other long guns (Dennee is the Crandon police chief; Mary is Matt Kegley’s mother)

8:30: Tyler leaves cabin

9:15: Tyler returns to cabin. Michael leaves, calls 9-1-1, then returns (Michael Kegley is Matt’s father)

9:27: SERT Team staging on County N (Special Emergency Response Team)

9:15-9:30: People in the cabin notice Tyler still has a pistol on his hip

9:40: Steve Peterson calls Tyler. Call goes to voicemail

9:56: Tyler calls Forest County Sheriff

10:36: Tyler calls Forest County Sheriff

12:31 p.m.: Tyler is down

Source: State Department of Criminal Investigation


My notes, fair use and public records cited.

This timeline is -very- incomplete and there are dozens of 911 calls -still- not available to the public. A significant amount of information is not being released, at this time, due to the AG’s “ongoing investigation”.

Bottom line, six young people shot dead by an LEO and much information is being withheld.

679 posted on 10/12/2007 6:24:19 AM PDT by Milwaukee_Guy (Don't hit them between the eyes. Hit them right -in- the eyes!)
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To: Milwaukee_Guy

Interestingly, the friend whose house the shooter left before dying said it was more like 2pm when Peterson died. So now its only 12:30pm. Well that takes care of an hour and a half that they don’t have to account for.

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=672136


680 posted on 10/12/2007 7:50:36 PM PDT by starviego
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