Crandon Police Officer Greg Carter’s frantic call came into dispatchers a little before 3 a.m. Sunday. “He is shooting to kill,” Carter said.
Carter showed up at the duplex where just minutes earlier off-duty deputy Tyler Peterson had gunned down six young people and wounded a seventh. In a desperate message to Forest County dispatchers, Carter reported Peterson had fired at him and just missed his head.
Carter’s message was among about a dozen 911 recordings the state Department of Justice released Thursday as the agency sorted through just what happened in the tiny community Sunday morning.
Investigators say Peterson’s 18-year-old ex-girlfriend, Jordanne Murray, was in the group, which had gathered at the duplex for a late-night pizza and movie party. They say Peterson showed up and grew angry after Murray rejected his attempt to reconcile.
He went out to his truck, got out an AR-15 assault rifle, went back inside and started shooting, investigators said. Then he fled.
Peterson also fatally shot Bradley Schultz, 20; Lianna Thomas, 18; Katrina McCorkle, 18, and Lindsey Stahl, 14. A seventh victim, Charlie Neitzel, 21, was hospitalized in fair condition.
Police finally caught up with Peterson at a cabin in the town of Argonne, where investigators say he fatally shot himself as they closed in.
Fear races through town
The recordings illustrate how confusion and fear raced through Crandon, a town of 2,000 about 100 miles northwest of Green Bay, as word of the shootings spread. Neighbors could be heard asking if they were in danger and whether they should flee their homes as dozens of calls poured in.
The earliest recording the agency released was made at 2:49 a.m. Sunday. In it, neighbor Donnell Dachelet reported she had heard two sets of shots and had seen a man running away.
She told the dispatcher the man got in a pickup truck and sped away. In the background Carter could be heard saying his squad had been shot. Moments later Dachelet could be heard yelling: “Bob, get the kids down! Get the kids down!”
Simultaneously, neighbor Jean Childers called in and said something is going on, “like automatic weapons.” Carter could be heard in the background of that call, breathing heavily.
“(Inaudible) shooter. I believe it’s Deputy Peterson. My squad’s been shot ... a round a couple centimeters from my head. It went through my squad. He is shooting to kill.”
Other callers over the next few minutes described hearing shots. Dispatchers told them to stay in their homes and avoid windows. A dispatcher told one caller they’ve received 25 calls describing Peterson’s truck.
“It was a black Toyota Tundra truck that just squealed out of here. Like, majorly,” Childers said.
Eldred Pagel called at 5:22 a.m. and told a dispatcher his son was going out with one of the “gals” at the duplex. He wondered if Peterson might be coming after his family next.
Little information released at first
The dispatcher told him he can’t release any information and to stay indoors.
“We’re kind of humped up here with a bunch of people right now,” Pagel replied.
At 11 a.m., as the search for Peterson continued, Donnell Dachelet’s sister-in-law Donna Dachelet called and asked if she and her neighbors should evacuate.
“No one has called us and told us anything about this until a little while ago,” she said. A dispatcher told her to stay put.
About 45 minutes later, Phil McCorkle, whose granddaughter was slain, called. Speaking calmly, he wondered why his granddaughter’s car was outside a trailer house.
“I’m Katrina’s grandfather. She was in the shooting this morning. Her car for some reason is out here on the (inaudible) lane, a little trailer house. And it wasn’t here earlier. I hear they’re still looking for that guy and I don’t know if he’s got her car and come out here and took off in the woods or what, but I just wanted to report it,” he said.
An hour later state Division of Criminal Investigation agent Jody Wormet called to request a medical helicopter for a gunshot injury. He called back a minute later to cancel the request, saying the subject is “down.”