By Andy Manis, AP
Shooting stuns Wis. town; 'This is a bad, bad dream'
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Tyler Peterson, 20, was shot to death after opening fire early Sunday on a group of students and recent graduates who had gathered for pizza and movies during their high school's homecoming weekend, local police said. Peterson was off-duty from his full-time job as a Forest County deputy sheriff; he also was a part-time Crandon police officer.
Crandon Police Chief John Dennee said Peterson was killed Sunday afternoon, 8 miles north of Crandon in the rural town of Argonne. Crandon Mayor Gary Bradley said Sunday that a sniper killed the suspect, but Van Cleve would not confirm that officers shot him.
The gunman's motive was unclear, but the mother of a 14-year-old victim said the suspect may have been a jealous boyfriend.
The victims' ages range from early teens to 20 or 21, said Tom Vollmar, a member of Forest County's board of supervisors. A seventh shooting victim was in critical condition, Dennee said.
A two-block area of downtown Crandon remained closed off Sunday night as investigators from the state Department of Criminal Investigation gathered evidence. The mother of one of the victims said the shooter, identified by Crandon schools Supt. Richard Peters as Tyler Peterson, 20, burst into the home of his ex-girlfriend and shot her and six others.
Jenny Stahl, 39, the mother of 14-year-old Lindsey Stahl, who was slain in the attack, said her daughter was sleeping over at a friend's house where the shooting occurred.
"I'm waiting for somebody to wake me up right now. This is a bad, bad dream," the weeping mother said. "All I heard it was a jealous boyfriend and he went berserk. He took them all out."
The shooting occurred in a white, two-story duplex about a block from downtown Crandon.
"It was a pizza and movie party," Crandon Police Chief Dennee said.
Marci Franz, 35, who lives two houses south of the duplex, said gunshots awoke her early Sunday.
"I heard probably five or six shots, a short pause and then five or six more," she said. "I wasn't sure if it was gunfire initially. I thought some kids were messing around and hitting a nearby metal building."
Then she heard eight louder shots and tires squealing, she said.
"I was just about to get up and call it in, and I heard sirens," she said. "There's never been a tragedy like this here. There's been individual incidents, but nothing of this magnitude."
Her husband, David Franz, 36, said it was hard to accept that someone in law enforcement committed such an act.
"The first statement we said to each other was, how did he get through the system?" David Franz said. "How do they know somebody's background, especially that young? It is disturbing, to say the least."
Donnell Dachelet, 37, a teacher's aide at Crandon High School, was stunned to hear that Peterson was accused of the crime. She had Peterson in a study class.
"He was very well-mannered. He never was rude or disrespectful to me," said Dachelet, who lives less than a block from where the shooting happened.
She said that about 3 a.m. Sunday she heard gunfire and the sound of squealing tires and saw a small, blue Chevrolet pickup "flying up our street." Police responded shortly after and she had her two small children sleep on her bedroom floor while police searched the neighborhood.
The sheriff said he would meet with state Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen this morning to discuss the case. Dennee said the state Department of Criminal Investigation will handle the case because the suspect was a deputy and an officer.
The community of approximately 2,000 residents, about 105 miles northwest of Appleton in an area known for logging and outdoor activities, is facing a trying time but is pulling together, Mayor Bradley said.
"We are a strong community. We always have been," he said. "This is agonizing, but we will prevail."
Contributing: Oren Dorell, USA TODAY; John Lee of the Appleton, Wis. Post-Crescent; Associated Press
| Posted 1h 26m ago | ||
| Updated 1h 9m ago | ||
Source: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-10-08-wisconsin_N.htm
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