Sheriff's deputy kills six people in Wisconsin

[robinson]

CRANDON, Wisconsin (CNN) -- A small town in northern Wisconsin awoke to grief and questions Monday, a day after an off-duty sheriff's deputy shot and killed six people at an early-morning party. A seventh person at the party was critically injured in the shooting.

Tyler Peterson, a sheriff's deputy, shot and killed six people, police said.
The shooter, 20, was killed by a police SWAT team Sunday afternoon, according to the town's mayor.

The dead and wounded were all students or graduates of Crandon High School. The gunman, Forest County Sheriff's Deputy Tyler Peterson, was a graduate of the school, which has a little more than 300 students.

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/10/08/wisconsin.shooting/?imw=Y&iref=mpstoryemail

 

[E.J.Armstrong]

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/10/08/wisconsin.shooting/?imw=Y&iref=mpstoryemail

The moral of the story is clearly: -

1/ don't allow dating by law officers with a gun
2/ don't associate with anyone dating a law officer with gun.
3/ err that's it.

That should cut the murder rate significantly.

 

[robinson]

The state attorney general's office will investigate the case, Van Cleve said.

You think?

 

[WildCat]

Does anyone else think that 20 is too young to be a cop? Too much responsibility for that age IMHO.

 

[Darth Rotor]

Does anyone else think that 20 is too young to be a cop? Too much responsibility for that age IMHO.

Not a cop, a sherrif's deputy. (There is a difference.)

Here is South Texas, the constable's and sherrif's departments are significantly lower paid than cops, and have not quite the same entry standards, and as you might expect, do not have a very good rep.

DR

 

[DavidS]

Does anyone else think that 20 is too young to be a cop? Too much responsibility for that age IMHO.

Not me, and for the same reasons that armies are best built from young men. They're mature enough to be physically and mentally formidable, but young enough to accept leadership and identify with a group/pack.

As to the "too much responsibility" issue, I'm not convinced that getting older will be much help. I suspect that the supposed benefits of increasing wisdom with age are likely to be offset by increasing awareness and advancement of their own self interest relative to their perceived value of "team" membership and status.

There's probably some (individually variable) "optimal" age, old enough to acquire good experience and judgment but young enough for group membership and benefit to remain high priority. I suspect 20 may not be too far from that mark.

I could be wrong, of course. I have no credentials to support this position, that's just what I think so far and why.

 

[fuelair]

As a person with military experience, I like groups that work as groups. Unless they are very well armed and armored - and very well trained, it makes eliminating them fairly easy. Obviously, I am considering enemy troops here.
And, no, I am not overlooking the use of very large masses of troops in certain circumstances - assuming that WMDs cannoit be brought to bear.

 

[Gurdur]

... I like groups that work as groups.

Well, it would be a bit bloody silly to like groups that are completely dysfunctional as groups.

And, no, I am not overlooking the use of very large masses of troops in certain circumstances - assuming that WMDs cannoit be brought to bear.

Just possibly perhaps a bit too much overkill for surburban parties in Wisconsin.

 

[Mephisto]

Although this might seem a little unbelievable, how good of a law enforcement officer could he have been if it took THREE tries to kill himself?

Deputy likely killed self with 3 shots to head

(CNN) -- A sheriff's deputy who killed six young people at a house party in Crandon, Wisconsin, apparently died after shooting himself three times in the head with a .40-caliber pistol, the state attorney general said.

Initial reports that 20-year-old Tyler Peterson was killed by a police sniper's bullet were apparently incorrect, though it appears the sniper may have shot Peterson in the arm, Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said.

Although the final forensic determination could take several weeks, the attorney general said that Peterson had his personal .40-caliber Glock when police found him. The three gunshots to the head came from a .40-caliber.

"The three gunshot wounds to the head included two nonfatal rounds with entry points below the chin, and one fatal shot that entered Peterson through the right side of the head," Van Hollen said.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/10/10/wisconsin.shooting/index.html

How good of a sniper was it to only manage a wound to the arm?

 

[Cainkane1]

My father was when he joined the Alameda police force and he retired 35 years later. He had a big advantage. He had been a military policeman during WW2 and after seeing the carnage guns could do he wasn't trigger happy.

 

[robinson]

Although this might seem a little unbelievable, how good of a law enforcement officer could he have been if it took THREE tries to kill himself?

I just saw that on the tube. Hard to believe. Both the three shots to the head, and the sniper missing so badly.

I wonder if the autopsy report will be sealed? So nobody will ever know what really happened.

 

[Bikewer]

Sometimes the sniper has to work with what he can get....

Though this is a tragic incident, it's an anomaly. Being in police work as long as I have, I'm aware of a number of homicides committed by police officers. Mostly domestic in nature (as this one was aside from the mass killing associated).
There are many thousands of full-time police officers, sherrif's deputies, and suchlike around the country; inconceivable that there would not be a few unstable folks in that number, despite attempts at screening for "stability".

There's always the chance that an individual who appears and functions in an entirely normal manner may go over the edge for whatever reason. This often appears to be the case with such "rage" killings; after the fact friends and family will say they "didn't think he could do such a thing", or that they "couldn't see it coming".