From News Services
Monday, October 8, 2007

CRANDON, Wis., Oct. 7 -- An off-duty sheriff's deputy, jilted by his onetime girlfriend, went on a shooting rampage early Sunday in her home, killing her and five others who had gathered for a party, authorities said. One other person was critically wounded, and the gunman was reportedly killed by police.

The victims, ages 14 to 20, and the 20-year-old shooter were part of a close-knit group of friends who went to the same high school, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

Ten people were in the white, two-story duplex, eating pizza and watching movies, when the shots were fired, according to Wisconsin news outlets. The mother of one of the victims told the Appleton Post-Crescent that the gunman, Tyler Peterson, was angry with the party's hostess, Jordann Murray, 18, who had recently broken up with him.

Peterson worked full time as a Forest County deputy sheriff and part time as a Crandon police officer, Police Chief John Dennee said. He was deputized in January, the Post-Crescent reported, citing Wisconsin online court records.

Officers were called to the house, about a block from downtown Crandon, at 2:47 a.m. A Crandon police officer who responded was treated for minor injuries and released.

Crandon Mayor Gary Bradley told the Associated Press that a sniper killed the shooter, but Sheriff Keith Van Cleve would not confirm that. Van Cleve said the gunman was killed in Argonne, a town about six miles from the duplex.

Marci Franz, 35, who lives two houses away, told the AP that gunshots awoke her.

"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," Franz said. "There's never been a tragedy like this here. There's been individual incidents, but nothing of this magnitude."

Crandon, about two hours northwest of Green Bay, has approximately 2,000 residents.

Three of the victims were students at Crandon High School, which had celebrated a homecoming football victory one night earlier.

"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."

The school's crisis team gathered twice Sunday, and counselors fanned out to local churches to help family and friends of the victims.

The sheriff said he will meet with state Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen on Monday to discuss the case. Dennee, the police chief, said the state Department of Criminal Investigation will handle the case because the shooter was a deputy and officer.