The Crandon shooting was a mass murder that occurred about 2:45 a.m. CDT on October 7, 2007, at a post-homecoming party inside a duplex in Crandon, Wisconsin, United States. The perpetrator, 20-year-old Tyler James Peterson (March 6, 1987 – October 7, 2007), who was a full-time deputy in the Forest County Sheriff's Department and a part-time officer with the Crandon Police Department, shot and killed six people and critically injured a seventh before committing suicide. One of the victims, 18-year-old Jordanne Michele Murray, was Peterson's former girlfriend, and it was believed that a dispute within the apartment motivated the shooting.
The incident was retroactively identified as the first time an AR-15 style rifle was used in a mass shooting in the U.S., according to Mother Joness mass shooting database; AR-15s have been used in mass shootings at increasing rates since the Crandon shooting.
Overview
Peterson, who was not on duty at the time of the shooting, entered an apartment complex where a homecoming party was held at approximately 2:45 a.m. CDT. There, he shot seven people, ages 14 to 20, killing six of them and wounding the seventh. Peterson fled the scene and was confronted by authorities at a cabin later that day. His cause of death was initially believed to have been from a gunshot fired by a police sniper, but it was later discovered that he committed suicide by multiple gunshots. Police have determined that approximately 30 rounds were fired throughout the duration of the shooting.
Victims
All seven victims were either students or recent graduates of Crandon High School. The seventh played dead after being shot three times and survived.