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.
In Da Nang sometimes was often...
“He performed exactly as trained under these circumstances, saving his life.”
~~~
This is true,,,when rounds hit the car it’s bug-out time,,,
Report in so the next guy that rolls it ain’t shot-up too,,,
It’s the time factors of all this that makes me wonder
WTH was goin’ on with the LEOs...
Roger Dat...;0)
“when rounds hit the car it’s bug-out time”
Yeah, and too bad for anybody else in his way. Maybe they should call, like, a real police officer.
They sure had enough time from what is posted back up thread,,,
Remember back in the 80’s when 25 people were killed in
San Diego?,,,Huberty(sp) walked around for an hour shooting
people in the McDee’s,,,SWAT was stuck in traffic,,,
We saw that for days on TV,,,Kluster~Foxtrot Fo’Sho...
you guys lost me on some of your military talk but I’m right with you on this
Howdy,,,I tend to ramble OT...
http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071013/APC0101/710130586/1003/APC01
Tyler Peterson named in lawsuit after Crandon deaths
Woman claims excessive force used by deputy, others
By Kate McGinty
Post-Crescent staff writer
CRANDON — Two days after killing six others and himself in a shooting spree, Tyler Peterson was named in a claim that may be a precursor to a civil suit.
Danielle Marvin, 26, of Crandon, filed a claim stating that she “suffered internal and external injuries as a result of excessive force used against her by unknown sheriff deputies and Forest County officials.” The claim names the city of Crandon, Police Chief John Dennee, Forest County and Sheriff Roger Wilson as respondents.
The claim, which was filed Aug. 31, was amended Tuesday to specifically name police officers and deputies Peterson and Greg Carter.
The officers were named after the shootings because media outlets asked why the complaint did not specifically include names, said attorney Alan Eisenberg.
“Our primary complaint … was really against the city and the county,” he said. “It’s not a big deal. We just added the names.”
The claim stems from a July 10 traffic stop, when Marvin was arrested and jailed in Forest County. She was charged with disorderly conduct, resisting an officer, possession of THC, intimidating a victim and criminal damage to property, as well as a felony charge of battery of a law officer. The case is pending.
Marvin claims the officers tried to suffocate her and attempted to sexually assault her in front of her husband and five children. She is seeking $400,000 in damages.
On Sunday, Peterson shot and killed six people, including his ex-girlfriend, before later killing himself. Carter was the first responding officer on the scene.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071015/ap_on_re_us/wisconsin_shooting
“The state’s top law enforcement official is drawing criticism for encouraging the public not to answer reporters’ questions about a north woods shooting
—Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen last week said law enforcers would not answer questions about the case in the city where it took place, and he relayed a request that Crandon residents ignore reporters asking questions.”
A week later there is still a tight seal over large parts of the evidence. What’s going on out there in the Nortwoods?
Thanks for the pic.
If history is any guide, they will stonewall and delay for as long as possible, using the excuse of ongoing civil litigation to not talk. Then they will eventually promise us a full report, which will eventually come out, that glosses over or simply ignores all the relevant questions. By that time the world’s attention will have moved on, anyway, so the howls of the few who read the report will not matter. The recent VTech Commission report did not even include first-hand eyewitness statements, preferring instead to defer to the police on what happened. And no report was ever issued at all in the Red Lake HS massacre(3-21-05 10 dead), as it happened on an Injun reservation and the FBI had full control over that investigation.
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