crandon wisconsin

A police officer in a small town in northern Wisconsin yesterday shot dead at least six young people, including a 14-year-old girl, at a house party before he was shot and killed by a police sniper.
News reports from Crandon, a close-knit town of 2,000 people, suggested the suspected shooter and his victims were part of the same circle of friends - high school students and recent graduates, who had gathered on Saturday night to celebrate a high school football victory.

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Six people were reported killed at the party, in a white clapboard house in the centre of town. A seventh was critically injured in hospital yesterday.
At least three of the dead were high school students, including a 17-year-old believed to have been a former girlfriend of the suspected shooter. Another of the victims, Lindsey Stahl, was 14. Her mother, Jenny Stahl, told reporters her daughter had called home to ask permission to sleep at a friend's house on Saturday night.

"I'm waiting for somebody to wake me up right now. This is a bad, bad dream," the weeping mother told local reporters. "All I heard it was a jealous boyfriend and he went berserk. He took them all out."

The horror of the episode was deepened by the familiarity of many in Crandon with both victims and the suspected shooter, as well as the youth of all of those involved.

The suspected killer, a sheriff's deputy who also worked part-time as a town policeman, was 20 years old. Police said he was off duty at the time of the shooting.

"He was an A student. He was a good kid," Frank Bocek, a local resident told CNN. "You would never have thought this would come from a young kid like that."

Cody Hanson, 17, a classmate of two of the victims, was also shocked. "I've seen him, I've talked to him. He doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would do that," he told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The rampage appears to have started on what should have been a festive weekend - the annual autumn homecoming ritual when recent graduates return to their high school.

A group of friends had gathered in an apartment within a large white framed house when the suspected shooter arrived shortly before 3am, according to news reports.

Local residents who lived a few doors away from the house, shown on television behind police barricades yesterday, described hearing the sounds of gunshots at about 3am local time. "I heard probably five or six shots, a short pause and then five or six more," Marci Franz, a local resident, told the Associated Press. "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 tyres squealing, she said.

It was unclear how or when the episode ended, but the town mayor, Gary Bradley, told reporters the shooter had been shot dead by a police sniper. Motive fuzzy in Wisconsin shootings...Nobel for medicine...Pack sacked

CRANDON, Wis. (AP) Authorities are trying to sort out the motive for yesterday's tragedy in Crandon, Wisconsin. A 20-year-old who worked as a deputy sheriff and part-time city police officer opened fire at a pizza party, killing six young people and critically wounding a seventh. The suspect was later cut down by a sniper's bullet.

UNION, Mo. (AP) His attorney says Michael Devlin is "at peace" about a decision to plead guilty to charges that he kidnapped and sexually abused two boys, including one who held against his will for more than four years. The 41-year-old man jailed since January has the first in a series of court hearings today in Missouri.

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) The first of this year's Nobel Prizes has been awarded. Mario Capecchi, Martin Evans and Oliver Smithies win the prize for medicine. They developed a technology for manipulating genes in mice, which has been used to study such diseases as cystic fibrosis, Diabetes and cancer.

BAGHDAD (AP) Iraqi officials say the shootings involving the American security firm Blackwater amount to a deliberate crime and recommend that the shooters face trial. They say 17 Iraqis died.

Blackwater guards say they came under fire first.

UNDATED (AP) The Chicago Bears knocked the Green Bay Packers from the ranks of the NFL's unbeaten last night with a 27-20 win at Lambeau Field. New England and Indianapolis are the league's only 5-and-0 teams. Dallas tries for its fifth win tonight.
Wisconsin young people gunned down...Marathon runner dies...UAW strike notice

CRANDON, Wis. (AP) Seven high-schoolers and recent grads gathered for a Saturday night pizza party; officials say six of them were shot to death by an off-duty sheriff's deputy who was then killed by authorities. It's a shocker for the people of Crandon, Wisconsin. A mother of one victim says it's like a "bad, bad dream."

CHICAGO (AP) A scorcher of a day for the Chicago Marathon, and a deadly one. A runner collapsed and died and about 50 were hospitalized due to the heat. The men's race was won by Kenyan Patrick Ivuti (eh-VOO'-tee). Ethiopia's Berhane Adere (buhr-HAYN' ah-DAHR') rallied to successfully defend her women's title.

DETROIT (AP) Progress reported in talks between Chrysler and the UAW. Still, a person briefed on the talks says the union has given a 72-hour notice of a potential strike.

BAGHDAD (AP) An official Iraqi probe into a deadly shooting last month in Baghdad says that Blackwater USA security guards opened fire without justification. The investigators also raised the number of Iraqis killed to 17. They say those involved should be prosecuted.

UNDATED (AP) The Boston Red Sox have moved into the American League Championship Series for the third time in five seasons. The Yankees have forced a Game 4 with a win over Cleveland.