It took months for the Justice Department to release documents revealing the autopsy results of Tyler Peterson.
FINALLY, there are some answers about how Peterson died.
From the Wisconsin State Journal:The state Justice Department has released new documents confirming an off-duty deputy who killed six people shot himself as he fled police last fall.
Forest County Sheriff's Deputy Tyler Peterson gunned down six people with an assault rifle at a Crandon party last October.
Investigators say he shot himself in the head three times in the woods hours later as police closed in. Questions have swirled about how Peterson could have shot himself three times.
The Justice Department released a summary Thursday of Peterson's autopsy that showed only one of the shots damaged Peterson's brain. Soot rings were found around the entrance wounds, suggesting the shots were fired at close range.
Why did it take so long to clarify this?
Why did the Justice Department allow questions to "have swirled about how Peterson could have shot himself three times"?
There were no reasonable excuses.
Permitting doubts to linger all this time certainly didn't boost people's faith in J.B. Van Hollen. _______________
More details, from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen has screwed up on this one. Why the stonewalling? Why won't the state Department of Justice release the autopsy records from the Crandon shootings?
There are no reasonable excuses. From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:The state Department of Justice says it needs more time to consider whether it will release autopsy reports on Tyler Peterson and the six people the Forest County sheriff's deputy shot and killed while off-duty back in October.
More than a month after the Journal Sentinel requested full copies of the reports, and six months after the initial media inquiries, the department has yet to conclude whether to make them public under the state Open Records Law.
There is no longer an ongoing criminal investigation in the case because the lone suspect took his life, according to the attorney general's findings.
In a letter responding to a Journal Sentinel request submitted March 4, an attorney in the office said he had not yet balanced the privacy interests of the crime victims and their families vs. the public's right to the information in the pathologists' reports.
...The autopsy report on Peterson is of particular interest, given the assertions by Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen that the 20-year-old shot himself three times in the head during a confrontation with tactical officers roughly 10 hours after he massacred a group of friends in his former girlfriend's Crandon apartment.
To date, the attorney general has released no medical or pathological reports detailing Peterson's wounds and verifying the conclusion that Peterson took his life after being wounded by a law enforcement sniper.
...The autopsy reports prepared by the Fond du Lac County medical examiner were not included in the 1,200 pages of materials released that day.
While Van Hollen has maintained that Peterson shot himself three times, reports released in February say that authorities found only two shell casings from the 40-caliber Glock handgun found near his body. Twelve live rounds were found with the gun, which had a 15-shot capacity, according to the records released in February.
...Witness accounts varied on the number of shots heard during the fatal confrontation. Some, including the sniper who wounded Peterson, described three shots; others reported they heard one loud shot and two softer reports.
Peter Fox, executive director of the Wisconsin Newspaper Association, said the reticence of Van Hollen's office raises questions among the public.
"Information would help a dubious public understand how the deputy fired three shots into his own head before it became fatal," Fox said. "When explanations aren't forthcoming, it raises questions."
Adding to concerns about the Department of Justice investigation are the resignations of two lead administrators in the criminal investigation section, and the revelations that portions of the investigative report were edited by Deputy Attorney General Ray Taffora, Van Hollen's top appointed aide.
According to internal e-mails recently released, Taffora wrote to the investigators Dec. 6: "I want to make sure we know what these reports say so we are in a position to coordinate with the district attorney any release of documents/public comments that may occur."
Leon Stenz, the Forest County district attorney, has refused to provide any reports to the news media, and referred all requests for information to the Department of Justice. Stenz was elected Florence-Forest County circuit judge in April. He takes the bench Aug. 1.
Van Hollen needs to come clean now.
When some people "crack," they lose their tempers and slam a door or say something hurtful to someone, things like that.
When others "crack," they gun down six people.Madison -- The Forest County Sheriff's deputy who killed six people and seriously injured another in a rampage in Crandon last fall didn't have a propensity to commit homicide, according to a state investigation into the shooting.
According to documents released this morning, Tyler Peterson was legally drunk at the time he died, 10 hours after he gunned down his friends. Peterson had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.125 when he died of three self-inflicted gunshot wounds.
The documents were released during a news conference in Madison this morning. Some of them are available at the Department of Justice Web site.
Peterson told friends a few hours after he shot his ex-girlfriend and six others "I did something real bad" and admitted "I just cracked."
No criminal charges will be filed and no further investigation is needed, said Forest County District Attorney Leon Stenz.
That's it?
"Just cracked."
Peterson was a normal guy who killed six people one night.
No further investigation needed. Peterson did not have a "propensity to commit any homicide, let alone kill six people he considered friends," the state Division of Criminal Investigation determined after extensive interviews into the shooting that garnered national headlines and stunned the small Forest County community of Crandon.
The investigation also determined that Peterson was controlling, but not physically abusive of his ex-girlfriend Jordanne Murray during their relationship.
Before he gunned down Murray and the others, he spent the night text-messaging her and asking about their relationship. When he arrived at Murray's house, he accused her of having a relationship with another man. She told Peterson to leave and her friends tried to push him out of the apartment.
After the shootings Peterson roamed the area in his pickup truck and stopped at a friend's home. At 5:46 a.m. Peterson tried to throw off law enforcement by calling a sheriff's dispatcher and telling them that the officer wanted for the killings in Crandon was no longer in a 2006 Chevy, but was now operating a red Ford Truck.
Eventually he was cornered north of Crandon.
Peterson spoke with Forest County Chief Deputy Ken Van Cleve who told Peterson he would not be allowed to leave the area. Right after that, Peterson started walking north toward some woods. An official fired a single shot, which struck Peterson in the upper left arm.
Peterson then shot himself three times - twice through the chin and once in the right temple. Authorities say the final shot through his temple killed him.
At 12:31 p.m., officers approached Peterson's prone body and handcuffed him until they were sure he was dead. When they were sure he was dead they removed the cuffs.
Why did it take months to release this information?
Why did it take so long to declare the Crandon police and the Forest County Sheriff's Department free of all responsibility for Peterson's death and for failing to see his propensity to crack-up?
My heart goes out to the families of the victims. In addition to their grief, they've had to deal with interminable delays and unresponsive authorities. _________________
Tyler Peterson's 911 callChilling._________________
Prepared statement of J.B. Van Hollen
JB Van Hollen is going to break his silence on the murders in Crandon.
You'll have to wait until next week Thursday to find out what he has to say.
From 620 WTMJ:Attorney General JB Van Hollen has scheduled a news conference for next Thursday to discuss the Crandon shootings. While most of the major facts in the case seem clear, Van Hollen has repeatedly refused to release public records about the case saying that it was still an ongoing investigation. Van Hollen has refused to say what that ongoing investigation entailed.
It's possible that we could learn more about the case and what that "ongoing investigation" entailed during next week's news conference.
The news comes the same day as news that families of some of the victims have filed notices of claim with Forest County and the City of Crandon claiming that supervisors at the Forest County Sheriff's Department and Crandon Police Department knew Tyler Peterson was prone to violence before he killed six young people.
Peterson gunned down his six victims on October 7, 2007.
When Van Hollen holds his news conference, it will be February 7 -- FOUR months after the shootings.
His stonewalling on releasing the public records about the case has been truly bizarre.
The way authorities have dodged questions and open records requests looks really bad.
Apparently, Van Hollen realizes that he can't hide anymore.
The families of the Crandon shooting victims want change and they want answers.CRANDON, Wis. -- Relatives of six people killed by a young off-duty sheriff's deputy who then apparently killed himself called Sunday for required psychological screening, full training and a minimum age of at least 21 for anyone hired as an officer.
About 20 family members and friends sat at a table behind pictures of those who were gunned down early Oct. 7 by 20-year-old Tyler Peterson after he showed up at their house party and tried to make up with an ex-girlfriend but was told to leave.
The parents of 20-year-old victim Aaron Smith said in a statement read on their behalf that Peterson was too "young, immature and obviously psychologically challenged" to be a law enforcement officer.
Peterson, who also was a part-time Crandon police officer, never underwent psychological testing to work in law enforcement. Anyone 18 or older can become a police officer in Wisconsin, and the state doesn't require mental evaluations. He also had an assault-type weapon as a SWAT team member.
The victims' families advocated changing the law to require written and oral psychological testing before anyone can be hired as police officer.
They also said that prospective officers should be at least 21 and possibly 23 before going on the job, and that no officer should be hired until completing full training and schooling.
They also want continued evaluation of officers, suggesting that they undergo mental-health screening once every six months.
As for SWAT team members, they said their weapons should be kept in a more secure place, with some accountability.
I agree with most of these suggestions, although I think a mental-health screening once every six months is a bit much. ...Three state lawmakers were at the meeting, and a state bill is in the works to take up issues the families raised.
...The meeting was monitored by attorney Ginger Murray, a former Crandon city attorney who said the families asked her to participate. She would not say whether the families planned any legal action.
"They are being made aware of their legal rights," she said.
I support psychological testing for officers.
However, even with such requirements in place, I think some troubled individuals could still manage to get through the screening process.
I don't think it can be assumed that the state could have prevented the deaths in Crandon.
The most level-headed, responsible person can snap. There aren't always warnings.
Certainly, it would be helpful for state lawmakers to pass a bill. The current process for becoming a law enforcement officer, no psychological testing, is inadequate.
Proper screening and monitoring would lessen the likelihood of someone like Tyler Peterson going on a shooting rampage, but it wouldn't eliminate it.
That's the painful, frightening reality.
If the families are considering legal action, I would think they would want to look into the way police handled Peterson during the hours after the shootings and before Peterson's death.
Of course, officials aren't talking. They aren't even allowing the victims' families access to the autopsy reports of their own children.
There needs to be some action, sooner rather than later. The families are living a nightmare.
It's been over two months since Tyler Peterson gunned down six people.
Authorities have made virtually no new information public since releasing all the 911 calls about 10 days after the shootings.
Charlie Neitzel, the lone survivor of Peterson's attacks, did give an interview to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Mike Nichols.
Other than his account of what happened in the apartment the night of the murders, there has been nothing.
Authorities continue to dodge questions and open records requests.
Simply put, it looks really bad.
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:This much is clear: Tyler Peterson wasn't going to make it to the woods.
But two months after the sheriff's deputy killed six people in a Crandon apartment, the details of the rest of his final hours are much less certain.
The state Department of Justice has refused to release any witness statements or reports generated by law enforcement agents investigating the massacre and the subsequent search for Peterson. In a response to open records requests submitted by the Journal Sentinel, the department's records custodian wrote that releasing the reports would interfere with the continuing investigation.
Forest County District Attorney Leon Stenz has said he is awaiting the state's full report on that investigation - including full autopsy reports, which have not been completed.
The Forest County Sheriff's Department has denied a request for the recordings of all calls made to the department over the weekend of Oct. 6 and 7, as well as requests for its policies regarding its Special Emergency Response Team and the allocation of the AR-15 rifles.
The Crandon Police Department might or might not have documents that would fill in some blanks. The Journal Sentinel was told that reports and investigative materials related to the case were mailed last week, but so far nothing has arrived.
The refusal to release any investigative findings leaves a host of questions, even though Peterson acted alone and is dead.
Could authorities have nabbed Peterson when he left his friend's cabin about 8:30 a.m. Oct. 7, drove to talk to his mother and then returned 45 minutes later? Could the friends have left the cabin, allowing authorities to move in without fear that anyone could be hurt? Could the off-duty officer have been coaxed into surrendering?
These and numerous other questions about Peterson, his crimes and the hours he spent holed up at a friend's cabin about five miles north of town remain unanswered. Even if the law enforcement agencies eventually open their records, they might not shed light on some of the communication because the volume of calls overwhelmed the county emergency system and much was communicated by cell phone, with no recordings.
How long does it take to investigate what happened during the hours between Peterson's bloody rampage and his own death?
J.B. Van Hollen's tight-lipped approach in dealing with the media and the public regarding this case has been consistent from the beginning. He refuses to talk. And he doesn't want anyone else to talk.
Authorities are staying silent on the matter.
Amazing how much silence can say.
If it looks like a cover-up and quacks like a cover-up....
The night Tyler Peterson shot and killed six people, he intended to have seven victims.
The lone survivor of Peterson's killing spree, Charlie Neitzel, is talking. He gives a glimpse of the horror that took place in Crandon, Wisconsin a little over a month ago.
Neitzel was interviewed by Mike Nichols of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Nichols writes Neitzel's account of the terrifying events.[Charlie Neitzel] lived only by pretending to die and, although he has no idea why he survived, some good is coming of it already.
He lived to tell about it.
"I haven't had any dreams about it," he said. "I don't really think about it. I try not to."
But he has talked to the victims' families, who wanted to know if their kids suffered.
And, although he is still in considerable pain from three gunshots and five surgeries, he told the real story of Tyler Peterson - one that has already partially morphed into fiction in some quarters - in an interview Sunday.
What's true is that for many years, Tyler Peterson was a friend.
"We were friends through grade school and high school a little bit," said Charlie, 21.
Even after high school, they used to ice fish together. He and Aaron Smith, one of the victims, had actually chatted with Peterson for a couple hours while they sat in their trucks outside a Crandon bank just a couple nights before the killings.
The night it actually happened - Saturday, Oct. 6, and Sunday, Oct. 7 - Charlie had been elsewhere. He didn't show up at the small party at Jordanne Murray's house until probably after 2 a.m.
Two of his best friends, Bradley Schultz and Smith, were there. So were Katrina McCorkle, Lianna Thomas and Lindsey Stahl, who was only 14.
He wasn't there but 15 or 20 minutes when Peterson showed up, saying he and Murray were supposed to hang out that night.
"She said, 'Well, plans have changed and now I have different people over and I want you to leave,' " Charlie said.
Only Peterson didn't want to leave.
"She said she was going to call the cops and he said, 'I am the cops.' "
He started swearing at her, said Charlie, and some of the others yelled back, "telling him to leave, telling him that he was being a psycho, a stalker boyfriend, because he pretty much was."
Charlie has read in the newspapers that "the reason he did it was because we were calling him names, like a 'dirty pig' or something. That's the biggest crock of (expletive) I've ever heard."
That never happened, he said.
Peterson "was a crazy psycho," Charlie said, "when he came flying in that door."
It was strictly a verbal altercation, he said, until Peterson pushed Murray and hit one of the other girls and then, before anyone else could intervene, ran out the door.
When he returned, we all know by know, he had an AR-15 rifle, and he kicked in the door.
So the victims called Peterson "psycho" and "a stalker boyfriend," but not a "dirty pig."
I'm in no way excusing Peterson's slaughter of six people, but by Neitzel's own words, they did call Peterson names.
It's "the biggest crock of (expletive) [he's] ever heard" that they called Peterson a "dirty pig."
OK. But "psycho" and "stalker boyfriend" qualify as derogatory terms. Of course, what they called him is irrelevant. Nothing they could call him would have given Peterson reason to take their lives.
Peterson's comment, "I am the cops," is chilling. What happened next, Charlie said, just seemed unreal, like it couldn't be happening. Charlie was in the kitchen, but the house is wide open.
Tyler Peterson, a kid he'd known since fifth grade, a Forest County sheriff's deputy who also worked as a cop, just started shooting.
And he never said a word.
"The whole time," said Charlie, "he didn't talk."
It happened so quickly, nobody had time to even react.
Charlie said he can't talk about everything. He lived in West Bend and attended St. Mary's School through fourth grade. But he had been best friends with Bradley Schultz and Aaron ever since moving to Pickerel and starting in the Crandon-area schools in fifth grade. He knew almost everyone who was killed.
When their families ask if their kids died quickly, he said he tells the truth.
"All the parents, I can't even imagine what is going through their minds if they didn't know what really happened, didn't know if their kids were slaughtered or if they got shot once, got killed instantly," he said.
The truth is, he said, "one of the kids did kind of suffer a little bit. But everybody else was pretty much killed instantly."
He himself, he said, was "terrified."
Peterson shot him in the leg first, and he went down.
"I tried to stand up and my leg just, like, snapped . . . I was standing there on my one leg and I looked at him. I was screaming at him not to shoot me. I was like, 'Tyler, There's no reason you have to shoot. Don't (expletive) shoot me! We've been friends forever.' "
When Peterson paused, Charlie said, he went for the gun - and Peterson shot him in the elbow.
"I fell on the ground. I curled up in the corner and I just played dead," he said.
Peterson was probably 6 feet away when he shot him the last time, firing a round into his shoulder.
That time, Charlie said, he didn't even move.
Not until Peterson turned around, reloaded and walked out the front door.
Emotionally, Charlie said he is doing OK so far.
I don't know how that's possible.
How could Neitzel being doing OK emotionally after what he experienced?...He wants everyone to know how thankful he is. Cards and e-mails have arrived from all over the world. Some say, "Glad you are alive"; some, "Praying for you," and he appreciates that.
As for why Peterson decided to kill seven people - and succeeded in ending the lives of six - Charlie said he cannot know.
"I guess nobody will really know why he did it," Charlie said. "The only person that can really know is him, I guess."
Then again, maybe it's simple.
"He's a cold-blooded murderer," said Charlie. "That's all there is to it."
I really don't know how Neitzel can go forward after this.
I would be haunted by the images. I know it.
But I would also be so grateful that I made it out of that house alive.
I can't help but think that Neitzel has a purpose. Perhaps he survived so the story of what happened that horrible night can be told. The grieving families can know what their loved ones went through in their final moments. As awful as they were, it must be of some comfort to know.
Yesterday, three more 911 calls from the Crandon shootings were released. They were placed by Mike and Mary Kegley, informing authorities that Tyler Peterson, the shooter, was with them.
If they were released in response to stepped-up pressure and scrutiny from the media, both in Wisconsin and nationally, I don't think they do nearly enough to assuage concern about the police response. Officials need to do more than release some tapes to quell the criticism.
There are gaping holes in the official timeline of events, and authorities are offering no explanations.
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:In direct but relatively calm tones, a husband and wife calling from rural Crandon described their unexpected Sunday morning visitor to police and sheriff's officials - his demeanor after killing six friends, his reluctance to surrender and the pistol tucked into his pants.
Nearly two hours had passed since Tyler Peterson, an off-duty sheriff's deputy and family friend, had shown up on their doorstep.
When Mike Kegley called the Forest County 911 line at 9:15 a.m., he told a sheriff's dispatcher matter-of-factly: "We got that Tyler Peterson at the house right now."
Kegley and his wife, Mary, have said they called authorities earlier, when Peterson first drove up to see them and his longtime friend, their son Matt, just before 8 a.m. They have wondered publicly what took sheriff's and police officials so long to arrive at their wooded property north of Crandon.
Those earlier calls were not included in the recordings released Tuesday by the state Department of Justice, but officials don't deny they were made.
Kevin St. John, a department spokesman, said the tapes released Tuesday represent all of the calls made from the Kegleys' property to 911. Calls made to law enforcement authorities at non-emergency numbers also were recorded, but those tapes are not being released at this time, St. John said.
That information will be released when officials determine that it will not hinder or impair the investigation into the murders Peterson committed and his final hours, St. John said.
The Kegleys' attorney, Michael Roe, verified that Mary Kegley called police shortly after Peterson first arrived at her home.
"When (Attorney General J.B.) Van Hollen says he's giving you all the 911 calls, he may be telling the truth but he's not giving you all the other calls made," Roe said. "I know for a fact that (911) was not the only number called."
...The recordings provide a glimpse into what transpired on the Kegleys' property, but leave a wide gap in an official version of events from those calls to Peterson's apparent suicide during an encounter with police around 12:30 p.m.
A timeline provided by the Department of Justice last week shows that Peterson made two calls to the Forest County sheriff, at 9:56 and 10:36 a.m. No tapes of those calls have been released to date.
...In earlier interviews, the Kegleys reported they called to alert authorities before Peterson left their property to meet with his mother and grandmother. He left at 8:30 a.m., according to the official timeline.
I hope there's a good explanation for this drip, drip, drip release of information.
The shooter Tyler Peterson is dead and six of his seven victims are dead.
In terms of the investigation, there's not all that much left to learn about the shootings. Perhaps Charlie Neitzel, the only victim to survive the rampage, has some key information.
I can't imagine that what he'd have to say would fundamentally change what's already known.
The silence of law enforcement doesn't seem to be related to the murders. It's those unaccounted for hours in the aftermath of the slaughter and the circumstances of Peterson's death that are at issue. That's what's prompting all the speculation.
I think it's weird that Van Hollen has decided to parse words about the release of the calls.
He's made all the 911 calls available, but that's not all the calls.
We don't need that sort of verbal evasion.
About Mike and Mary Kegley-- They sound remarkably calm on the phone, but their lives could have been in danger.
So why didn't police move in as soon as they heard where Peterson was?
The police sound very matter-of-fact about Peterson being at the Kegley home.
Of course, they needed to protect the Kegleys and make sure that they didn't do anything that would cause Peterson to add more people to his list of victims.
But the police response is rightfully being questioned.
There was no way that they could be certain that Peterson was finished murdering; yet hours went by before he was no longer a threat to anyone.
Van Hollen and other authorities should fill in the holes in the timeline.
Releasing inconsequential tapes of 911 calls isn't nearly enough.
The public deserves answers, and sooner rather than later.
What happened in Crandon?
We know of the seven deaths. We know the names of the victims and the name of the shooter. Some 911 calls have been released.
But when it comes to details about what happened during the hours between the shootings and Tyler Peterson's death, we don't know much.
According to the Associated Press:
Wis. officials tight-lipped on shootingMADISON, Wis. -- The state's top law enforcement official is drawing criticism for encouraging the public not to answer reporters' questions about a north woods shooting by an off-duty sheriff's deputy that left seven dead, including the gunman.
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. He then left the podium without taking questions.
A week after the shooting, authorities have released little or no information on autopsy findings, certain 911 calls made during a manhunt and crime-scene evidence. The crime is one state's biggest homicide cases, and in addition to being a deputy, the shooter was also a part-time officer on the Crandon police force.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said in an editorial Thursday that among the questions left unanswered is whether there was a problem with the police response, and whether psychological screening is needed for police recruits.
"The news media must give the survivors room to grieve in private," the editorial said. "But they must also do their job — report on a matter of great importance to the state. Unfortunately, Van Hollen has signaled that he may make the media's job harder."
Van Hollen said Tuesday at a news conference that victims' families had "asked me to ask the community at large to stop talking to the press. As such, we in the law enforcement community will do our part by having no further comments to the press from Forest County."
Van Hollen was simply passing on the victims' families' "very human desire to grieve in peace," said Kevin St. John, a spokesman for the state Department of Justice, which Van Hollen leads. More information will be released in time, he said.
Still, the Wausau Daily Herald called Van Hollen's statement inappropriate. "No one has the authority to suggest that an entire community remain silent," read an editorial Friday.
Unanswered questions still abound, the editorial said, including what led to the suspect's death. "How did he end up with three pistol wounds to the head and a rifle wound to an arm?"
It's no secret that people think there's some sort of cover-up about how law enforcement dealt with Peterson and how he died.
Naturally, all the unanswered questions lead to the creation of theories based on speculation and rumors.
Whatever happened, the sooner detailed information is released the better to quiet all the speculation.
Right now, Van Hollen is acting like he has something to hide, not good for an attorney general. ...The shooting drew dozens of reporters to Crandon, a town of 2,000 about 100 miles northwest of Green Bay. Many residents refused to speak to them after Van Hollen's statement. Some told reporters to go home.
Crandon Mayor Gary Bradley said he wished Van Hollen would have come down harder on the press.
"The news media was very aggressive, very aggressive people. They're not taking into consideration what people are going through here," Bradley said. "They set their cameras up with no regard to where they were. These people aren't running around with their brains."
I do sympathize with the people of Crandon. It must be awful to have the press crawling around when you're in shock, and later, in mourning.
I didn't think it was odd when Van Hollen asked the media to give the families and residents a break.
When he said that officials weren't going to talk to the press, I thought that would be a short-lived situation. Within a day or so of the crime, I expected to get more information.
I certainly didn't think that the silence of officials was going to be so extended. But Doug Lee, an attorney who writes for Vanderbilt University's First Amendment Center, said that while some reporters do act like "rabid dogs," they're the minority. The attorney general's request reflects a trend in government to treat the media as the enemy, he said.
"You would think in an environment like this one, where there are a lot of emotions flying around, part of the grieving process, part of the healing process, would be to talk and to share," Lee said. "It's somewhat patronizing. Why can't people make their own determinations about speaking to the media?"
Doug Lee's statement is somewhat misleading.
He seems to be suggesting that Van Hollen said that people couldn't "make their own determinations about speaking to the media."
Of course, that's not the case. He didn't issue some sort of order preventing people from speaking. He certainly doesn't have the power to do that.
The people of Crandon can talk to the media if they wish.
I don't think this is a matter of the government treating the media as the enemy.
I think Van Hollen and other officials are avoiding the media and not being forthcoming with information; not because of some sort of adversarial relationship but because they don't want to reveal the truth.It seems like Van Hollen is using the grief and shock of the victims' families and Crandon residents as an excuse to keep officials from talking to the media.
There's an exploitation factor here that's very troubling. He seems to be hiding behind a facade of sensitivity.
That's a mistake.
The facts will come out eventually.It's not appropriate for law enforcement officials to be protected from the big, bad media. Officials need to inform the public.
A cover-up always makes matters worse. Nature abhors a vacuum and, in cases like this, so do people. The silence from officials is being filled with theories that may actually be more painful to those suffering in Crandon than the truth.
Van Hollen needs to be honest with the public. At this point, he's delaying the inevitable, drawing out the ordeal.
It's time to talk.
It's suspected that Tyler Peterson fired the shots that killed him. Crandon -- Of the dozens of bullets fired by Tyler Peterson as he mowed down friends and Crandon High School classmates in a fatal flurry, authorities said Tuesday, he apparently saved the last few for himself.
Evidence shows the 20-year-old Forest County sheriff's deputy and part-time Crandon police officer likely committed suicide by shooting himself in the head with his .40-caliber handgun as law enforcement officers closed in on him, hours after Peterson killed six young people, said Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen.
Peterson left behind a chaotic, blood-soaked scene inside a white duplex where two victims died while trying to hide in a bedroom closet and another victim survived only by playing dead.
Peterson was hit by four bullets - one to his bicep, which came from a long distance, and three to his head. Two of the shots were nonfatal wounds underneath Peterson's chin, with the fatal shot entering the right side of his head, Van Hollen said. All three head wounds showed signs the gun was held against the skin.
In a chilling timeline released at a news briefing Tuesday afternoon, Van Hollen also answered questions that have dogged investigators as the public wondered what happened early Sunday.
For the first time, authorities gave an account of the scene inside the home, with three bodies - those of Bradley Schultz, 20; Lindsey Stahl, 14; and Aaron Smith - found near a couch. The body of Jordanne Murray, 18, was found inside the kitchen, and the bodies of Lianna Thomas, 18, and Katrina McCorkle, 18, were found inside or just outside a bedroom closet, where they apparently were trying to hide.
The only person to survive the attack, 21-year-old Charlie Neitzel, apparently tried to reason with Peterson inside the kitchen but was shot in the leg. He continued to plead with Peterson before being shot two more times. Peterson stopped shooting only when Neitzel played dead, Van Hollen said.
As more details emerge, it must be getting even more difficult for family and friends of the victims, as well as the shooter, to grasp all of this.
God be with them.
TMJ4 and the Associated Press offer information on the six people killed by Tyler Peterson and the one person he wounded.
Too often, in situations like this, the victims become defined by how they died. But to the people who knew and loved them, they aren't just names on a list of the dead, a curiosity in the news.
They're individuals, precious and irreplaceable. Even in the midst of this deepest grief, the victims should be remembered for how they lived and their lives should be celebrated.
The profiles are very brief, but they do serve to humanize the victims. -- Bradley Schultz, Lindsey Stahl, Jordanne Murray, Aaron Smith, Leanna Thomas, Katrina McCorkle, and Charlie Neitzel.
(Excerpts)BRADLEY SCHULTZ
Bradley Schultz, 20, was a third-year criminal justice major at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He wanted to be a homicide detective, said his aunt, Rose Gerow of Crandon.
Another aunt, Sharon Pisarek, said Schultz had been home from college visiting his friends and died trying to protect one.
"We still don't have many details, but from what they've told us, there was a girl next to him and he was covering her, protecting her," she said, sobbing. "He was loved by everybody. He was everybody's son."
LINDSEY STAHL
The 14-year-old. a freshman and the youngest of the victims, was a vegetarian, said her mother, Jenny Stahl, 39.
"She didn't eat meat," Stahl said. "That is what a lot of people know her for. She was an animal rights activist."
She also was interested in global warming, said her half-brother, Ryan Coulter, 12. "She probably would have changed the world, you know," he told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
JORDANNE MURRAY
Jordanne Murray loved children and hoped to be a daycare provider, said Sally Maxon, whose daughter had been best friends with her since kindergarten.
...Murray was a good writer who had played sports in high school.
AARON SMITH
Aaron Smith was a happy-go-lucky guy, who embraced his nickname "Chunk," said Derek Dehart, who went to Crandon High School with him.
"You almost never saw him without a smile," he said.
Smith and Bradley Schultz played on the football team with Dehart and helped the team to its first-ever playoff win their senior year, he said.
"He always joked around and had a good time, and even when he got mad, you knew he would never hurt a fly," Dehart said.
LEANNA THOMAS
Leanna Thomas sang with her identical twin Lindsey in the church choir, their voices merging beautifully, said Sjana Farr, wife of Bill Farr, pastor at Praise Chapel Community Church.
...The twins were in band and theater and played volleyball, baseball and basketball together. They were lively and artistic and made people around them feel good, Farr said.
KATRINA McCORKLE
Katrina McCorkle, 18, Katrina McCorkle, 18, was a senior. A former boyfriend said she and Murray were longtime friends. McCorkle loved playing softball and had been thinking about what college she might attend, he said, adding that "her family meant everything to her."
CHARLIE NEITZEL
Twenty-one-year-old Charlie Neitzel, who was injured in the shooting, was a goofy guy and a good friend of Aaron Smith's, said Derek Dehart, who went to high school with him. The two always went to parties together, he said.
"He was always able to make somebody laugh," he said.
Long after the media have retreated and the satellite trucks roll away, the community of Crandon, the families and the friends, will be left to deal with their enormous losses. For them, the shootings are so much more than a temporary "top story" in the news._____________________
Tyler Peterson's family and friends are grieving, too. The burden they have to carry must be unbearable. CRANDON, WIS. -- There are no strangers in tragedy in a town this small.
Susan Hill, the co-owner of the only mortuary here, knew Tyler Peterson, the 20-year-old lawman who fired a fusillade into a room filled with seven young people early Sunday, killing six and wounding one. Hill also knew one of his victims. Both were related to Hill by blood or marriage.
On Monday, as this heartbroken town grappled with the enormity of the rampage that ended with Peterson's death during a standoff with police, Hill wasn't taking sides -- and neither were many others.
It was all too sad.
..."All the boys grew up together in this town. That's what happens when you have a graduating class of about 63 people," said Sjana Farr, the wife of a local pastor. Her son, Jonathan, a corporal in the Marines, was returning on emergency leave to grieve with his high school mates -- for Peterson and two of his victims, Bradley Schultz, 20, and Aaron "Chunk" Smith, 20.
"Jon and Tyler, Chunk and Schultzy -- they hunted together, they skied together, they cruised up and down the streets together," Farr said. "That's what makes it so hard, that he's one of us, he is one of ours. And we won't turn our back on him."
UPDATE, October 11:
911 calls released. Listen. __________________
NEW, from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:Tyler Peterson went to his ex-girlfriend's house in Crandon Saturday with the hope of patching up their relationship, but instead got in a fight with her. And when other people at the house started calling him a "worthless pig" he lost control.
That's what 20-year-old Peterson told lifelong family friend Mike Kegley about five hours after authorities say Peterson killed six young people at the Crandon house, Kegley said Monday morning.
Peterson showed up at Kegley's home a few miles north of Crandon at about 7:30 a.m. Sunday and told his wife and their son - Peterson's friend since childhood - what happened.
The family quietly called 911.
The Kegleys coaxed Peterson, a Forest County sheriff's deputy and part-time Crandon police officer, into handing over his work-issued assault rifle - the weapon he said he had used in the slayings - and tried to calmly talk him into turning himself in.
Peterson said he wanted to talk to his mom and his grandmother and left the house, promising to return.
About an hour later Peterson came back. The Kegleys again called 911.
"We gave him some coffee and fed him," Kegley said. "He wasn't running around crazy or anything. He was very, very sorry for what he did."
Peterson promised the Kegleys they were not in any danger but he refused to give up his pistol that he had tucked in the back of his shirt, Kegley said.
After about another hour or so, Kegley said he left his house to find out where the police were. His wife followed him a shot time later. Their son refused to leave.
Read more._____________________
This undated photo taken from the Crandon High School yearbook and made available by WJFW-TV in Rhinelander, Wis. shows Tyler Peterson. (AP Photo/WJFW-TV)
What can you say about the bloodbath in Crandon?
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: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.
...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.
Why did Peterson kill so many people?
Local TV news outlets continue to cite jealousy as the possible motive, something that counters Fay Statezny's claims.
It's all speculation.
Crandon Township supervisor Ray Statezny Jr. offers a different story from Fay Statezny.Crandon Township supervisor Ray Statezny Jr. said that the shooting was the result of a love triangle involving Deputy Peterson, a young woman, and another police officer.
"All I really heard was that there was a shooting," Statezny said. "Two officers were involved."
According to Statezny, "The one officer that did the shooting was going with the one girl that got killed. Then they split up and this other officer started going with her," Statezny explained.
Another resident says he heard suspect broke up with his girlfriend last week. She was apparently still in high school.
It was supposedly a homecoming party.
Beyond the matter of motive, an AP report highlights the fact that Peterson was in law enforcement. David Franz, 36, who lives with his wife two houses from the duplex where the shooting occurred, said it was hard to accept that someone in law enforcement was the gunman.
"The first statement we said to each other was, how did he get through the system?" Franz said. "How do they know somebody's background, especially that young? It is disturbing, to say the least."
Sheriff Keith Van Cleve said he would meet with state Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen on Monday morning to discuss the case.
I really don't see that as an issue, that somehow the system broke down, that although Peterson's job was to protect and serve the community he committed mass murder.
Of course, it's disturbing that the shooter's duty was to protect the public from murderers like himself.
I just don't think it's all that relevant.
Would more thorough psychological examination have revealed that Peterson was not fit to serve?
What if it did?
Would that have prevented the slaughter?
I don't see how.
Another thing--
Of course, the small community of Crandon is reeling. Residents can't believe something like this would happen in their quiet up north home.
Such violence as Peterson committed really doesn't have anything to do with the size of the city.
Small towns aren't immune from these nightmarish events. Because the population is so much smaller, the odds are simply less of something like this happening outside of a densely populated urban area.
Such crimes aren't related to the place as much as they're related to the person committing them.
Neighbors hug near where a law enforcement employee went on a shooting rampage Sunday, Oct. 7, 2007, in Crandon, Wis., killing six people and injuring a seventh before authorities fatally shot him, officials said. The gunman, Tyler Peterson, was 20 years old and worked full-time as a Forest County deputy sheriff and part-time as a Crandon police officer, said Police Chief John Dennee. (AP Photo/Andy Manis)
In cases like this, we look for explanations and try to understand. But can any information make sense of something so senseless and horrific?
Can it be predicted when someone is likely to go on a shooting rampage?In some instances, yes. There can be clues. However, "some" isn't good enough.
I think this is one of those excruciatingly painful realities -- people are capable of doing great damage to others and committing unspeakable acts. It's something that we don't always have the ability to foresee or the power to prevent.
The "why" of it is so difficult to comprehend.
Yet if a search of Peterson's property revealed that he had spelled out his intentions to kill and explained himself in one of those creepy, lengthy, scribbled notebook manifestos, how would that help?There might be some small measure of comfort in understanding a bit more, but there still would be six young people murdered and one injured.
It's difficult to acknowledge that a human being is capable of committing such violent and selfish acts and causing such heartbreak; but it happens and it can happen anywhere.
Prayers for the victims and their grieving families and friends. Their loss is so great and so sudden. They've been changed forever.
And prayers for Peterson's loved ones.
Peterson has condemned them to carry an unbearable burden for the rest of their lives.
There are too many victims here to count. ____________________
Audio from 620 WTMJ__________________
Video from TMJ4___________________
Statement from Tyler Peterson's familyOur hearts go out to the victims, their families and their friends. We are grieving for your losses. We are very sorry for what has happened. This huge tragedy has deeply affected everyone, including us. We also feel a tremendous amount of guilt and shame for the horrible acts Tyler committed. We are struggling to respond, like most of you. We do not know what we should do. Like us many of you are asking why and looking for answers. There is nothing that happened before or after yesterday's events that has given any insight into why. We may never receive the answers we all seek. Like those close to Tyler we are in shock and disbelief he would do such terrible things. This was not the Tyler we knew and loved. We do not know how to act. We want to express our love and support to everyone affected, but are unsure what would be apppropiate. We are hurting for all of your losses, as well as ours. May God bless you all. You are in our thoughts and prayers.
