Tyler Peterson

I like parties. Most people do.

It seems that 20-year-old Tyler Peterson did not. At least he didn’t like this one.

On the seventh of October, at about 2:45 in the morning, Tyler Peterson – a new deputy who had just been hired onto the Forest County Sheriff’s department – walked into the middle of a party in Crandon, Wisconsin, a small town of about 2000 people.

Seven people whose ages ranged from 14 to 20 were gathered at this white, two-story duplex. Some of them were current high school students. Some of them were recent graduates. They were all having a good time, eating pizza and watching movies.

One of them was Tyler Peterson’s 18-year-old ex-girlfriend, Jordanne Murray, who had graduated from High School in 2006. The couple had broken up a week ago and it is rumored that she was now dating another officer.

Tyler Peterson and Jordanne Murray had an argument, a loud one, and Tyler left when other people attending the party started yelling at him and calling him a “worthless pig.”

Tyler walked back to his truck, got his police-issued AR-15 rifle and stalked back to the apartment.

Tyler Peterson, who was also a part-time officer with the Crandon Police Department, walked into the party, pulled out a weapon and opened fire, shooting as many people as he could.

By the time the last of the initial shots rang out, 30 rounds had been fired, 6 innocents were dead and several more were injured.

Four girls and two boys were dead.

14-year-old Lindsey Stahl was one of the people killed by Tyler. According to her mother, Jenny Stahl, Lindsey had called her on Saturday night and asked if she could sleep over at a friend’s house.

The first officer who responded to the shooting was shot at by Tyler Peterson. Fortunately for that officer, he just received superficial wounds from bullet-shattered glass fragments.

One of the luckier young men, 21-year-old Charlie Neitzel, survived because he played dead after being shot three times.

Tyler Peterson’s ex-girlfriend wasn’t so lucky, as she was one of the kids gunned down.

Tyler Peterson drove off, out of town. It’s possible that he was heading to his parent’s house in a nearby town to say goodbye.

Once the situation had been recognized as a shooting, the town of Crandon was placed on lockdown until the shooter was found.

Because Tyler Peterson had a police radio, the pursuing officers had a hard time catching him – but in the end they did.

At about 7:30 in the morning, Tyler Peterson showed up at Mike Kegley’s house, which was a few miles north of Crandon. Mike Kegley’s son had been a friend of Tyler since they’d both been boys, and Tyler felt somewhat comfortable there.

Tyler Peterson told the Kegley family what he had done and expressed his remorse. Nevertheless, the Kegley’s snuck out a call to 911 and let the authorities know that there was a desperately wanted man sitting in their kitchen.

Attempts by the Kegleys to convince Tyler to give up and turn himself in fell on deaf ears.

Tyler left, came back and had some breakfast and coffee with the Kegleys, telling them that they were in no danger, but refusing to relinquish the pistol he had tucked into his pants.

The Kegleys called 911 again.

By this time, people that worked for Mike Kegley’s construction company had showed up to his house and were doing whatever it is that people who work for a living do. Many of them noticed that Tyler Peterson was on the property and they called 911 many, many times.

After a while, Tyler got tired and took a nap in the back of his truck.

Workers were still calling 911.

At about 1 in the afternoon, law enforcement officers had finally arrived, surrounding about 200 miles worth of space around the Kegley’s property. They set themselves up in the woods around the home and waited.

Tyler Peterson woke up and wandered off into the woods with his pistol. Tyler was shot by a police sniper once in the arm before he put his pistol under his chin and pulled the trigger twice, then put the gun to his temple and pulled the trigger a final time.

Tyler Peterson died at approximately 2 in the afternoon, almost 12 hours after the massacre.

We received a message from someone who knew the victims, here it is in its entirety:

a young new cop was off duty and went into his ex’s apartment and shot her and five other people. it was crazy. he fled and try to shoot another cop but missed and then a few miles to a smaller town and held people hostage and a sniper cop shot him and now he’s gone which is good. all the kids were younger than me but i knew family members of all the kids. it’s a very sad day in our town right now. this happened 2 houses away from my grandma’s house. just a block off main street by the post office and teh cop shop. just very shocking and hurt by all this.

If you’re interested in becoming a deputy for the Forest County Sheriff’s Department, now would be a good time to apply.

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