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.
Crandon is a city in Forest County, Wisconsin, United States; it is in the northeastern part of the state, about 100 miles (160 km) north of Green Bay. The population was 1,961 at the 2000 census.
I just heard this on TV..Just terrible!
Shooting in Crandon
Sean O’Flaherty
CRANDON - Several young people were shot, at least one fatally, at a house party early Sunday in Crandon in northern Wisconsin.
WJFW quotes a witness who said gun fire broke out around 3 a.m. at a Crandon apartment.
The witness said 10 area youth between the ages of 17 and 20 were at the party at the time.
The witnesses said it was one suspect who fired all the shots.
There are conflicting reports on the number of victims who died and the number of people wounded.
The witness said the surrounding homes and streets near where the shooting happened are on lock down.
Shooter is a cop!
HOLY COW!
WTMJ reporting as many as 6 dead...police officer still on the loose
Prayers up.
As Many As 6 Dead in Forest County Shooting; Suspect is Law Enforcement Officer
By Chris Lato
Reports indicate as many as six people are dead in a shooting rampage in Crandon, Wisconsin. The suspect is reportedly with the Forest County Sheriff’s Department. At least report authorities were still trying to hunt him down.
Authorities say this is a fatal shooting - a witness says just before 3 am gunfire erupted at a home in Crandon. A witness says 10 area youths between 17 and 20 were at the home, and one suspect, the law enforcement officer, fired all the shots.
At this time, authorities are still trying to apprehend the suspect, considered armed and dangerous, and who may be on foot.
The whole neighborhood was still on lockdown as of mid-morning. There are varying reports on the number of those injured and fatalities - numbers are not confirmed at this time, and it was not immediately confirmed what sparked this shooting.
http://www.620wtmj.com/news/local/10299757.html
As Many As 6 Dead in Forest County Shooting; Suspect is Law Enforcement Officer
By Chris Lato
Reports indicate as many as six people are dead in a shooting rampage in Crandon, Wisconsin. The suspect is reportedly with the Forest County Sheriff’s Department. At least report authorities were still trying to hunt him down.
Authorities say this is a fatal shooting - a witness says just before 3 am gunfire erupted at a home in Crandon. A witness says 10 area youths between 17 and 20 were at the home, and one suspect, the law enforcement officer, fired all the shots.
At this time, authorities are still trying to apprehend the suspect, considered armed and dangerous, and who may be on foot.
The whole neighborhood was still on lockdown as of mid-morning. There are varying reports on the number of those injured and fatalities - numbers are not confirmed at this time, and it was not immediately confirmed what sparked this shooting.
http://www.620wtmj.com/news/local/10299757.html
“The witness said 10 area youth between the ages of 17 and 20 were at the party at the time.
The witnesses said it was one suspect who fired all the shots.”
Where does it say the shooter was a cop?
See #10 — looks the guy is/was apparently a sheriff’s deputy.
There is of course, no excuse for this but I wonder what “triggered” this massacre. And no pun intended, honest. I am truly shocked by this.
BREAKING: Police Officer Shoots Five in Northern Wis.
Last Edited: Sunday, 07 Oct 2007, 11:59 AM CDT
Created: Sunday, 07 Oct 2007, 11:59 AM CDT
Breaking News
WITI-TV, CRANDON -- A police officer shoots at least five people in the city of Crandon in Northern Wisconsin.
A family member of one of the victims says that one of the people involved in the shooting is a student of the Milwaukee Area Technical College.
Crandon is located near Rhinelander, Wisconsin. At this point, police are not releasing any additional information. Stay with MyFoxMilwaukee.com and FOX 6 News for the latest on this developing story. AddThis Social Bookmark Button
fox news, guess you don't have a TV.
Packers-Bears game tonight. Lots of people have get-togethers on Sundays here in NE Wisconsin.
This is truly gut-wrenching, prayers up for all.
Got a TV, just not in the habit of running it in the daytime.
thnx
*
Crandon Shooting
Submitted: 10/07/2007The Forest County Sheriff's Department is investigating a fatal shooting this morning.
Crandon - According to witnesses on the scene, just before 3 a.m. this morning, gun fire broke out at a Crandon home near the intersection of Hazeldell and Washington streets.
A witness says 10 area youth between the ages of 17 and 20 were at the home at the time of the shooting.
One witness was woken up by the sound of gunshots.
The witness says it was one suspect who fired all the shots.
Marci Franz heard the shots fired, she says, "I was lying in bed wondering if they were gunshots. I heard another succession of gunshots and it sounded very close, probably close to my house, where as the others sounded more distant. Then immediately squealing tires."
According to the Town of Argonne Chairman the suspect is Forest County Deputy Tyler Peterson.
According to authorities he is still on the loose and considered armed and dangerous.
We do have a reporters on the scene and will continue to keep you updated as new information becomes available.
I gather this wasn’t an “AD” by the officer.
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