Town Stunned by Massacre

Rebuffed deputy kills five, dies in stand-off
By Peter Fearon,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 9, 2007 5:09 AM CDT
Town Stunned by Massacre
This undated photo taken from the Crandon High School yearbook and made available by WJFW-TV in Rhinelander, Wis. shows Tyler Peterson. Peterson, an off-duty sheriff's deputy went on a shooting rampage early Sunday Oct. 7, 2007 at a home where seven young people had gathered for pizza and movies, killing...   (Associated Press)

As more details emerged in the massacre at a Crandon, Wis., homecoming party Sunday morning, grieving residents are asking how a young sheriff's deputy who murdered his ex-girlfriend and five others with his SWAT-team rifle could have become a police officer without psychological testing. None is required in Wisconsin, reports the Chicago Tribune.
Peterson was killed by police after a standoff of several hours Sunday afternoon.

After the killings, Peterson had sought refuge with a friend in a nearby cabin; police attempted unsuccessfully to negotiate his surrender. Peterson told the friend he had come to the party to try to rekindle his relationship, but was met with ridicule. "We are in shock and disbelief that he would do such terrible things," Peterson's family said. "This was not the Tyler we knew and loved." (More Crandon, Wisconsin stories.)

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