At Least 5 Youths Dead After Shooting in Wisconsin
Sunday, October 07, 2007
Oct. 7: Law enforcement officer stand outside site of deadly shooting in Crandon, Wis.
A Wisconsin town was to have its state of lockdown lifted after a police chief said law enforcement is no longer looking for a suspect — believed to be with the local sheriff's office — who went on a killing spree early Sunday morning, gunning down at least five youths in a Crandon home.
Crandon Police Chief John Dennee, speaking outside the police department about two blocks from the shooting site, would not say whether the suspect was dead. But he said: "We're not looking for anybody anymore."
A dispatcher for the State Patrol who declined to give his full name as a matter of department practice said several of the patrol's officers went to Forest County to help investigators because the suspect is an employee of the Forest County Sheriff's Department and a part-time officer for the Crandon Police Department.
"It's a pretty tragic situation here," said Forest County Supervisor Tom Vollmar, who lives just outside Crandon, a city of about 2,000 people. "There are five or six people dead."
The State Patrol and the Crandon Fire Department detoured a steady stream of traffic from two blocks of U.S. Highway 8 in the downtown area. Some residents stood in nearby front yards.
Earlier in the day, Crandon Mayor Gary Bradley told FOX News that the town was under a "gag order" regarding the overnight event but no one in the town can leave church, home or anywhere else they happened to be Sunday morning.
A witness told WMTJ Radio that gunfire erupted in the home at about 3 a.m. Sunday morning. Ten area youths from the ages of 16 to 21 were reportedly in the home when the shots were fired. Fatalities are being reported, but the number of casualties is still unconfirmed.
A family member of one of the victims told WITI-TV, a FOX affiliate, that one of the victims involved in the shooting is a student at the Milwaukee Area Technical College.
The town of Crandon is located about 100 miles north of Green Bay. The area is known for logging, and fishing, hunting and snowmobiling.
