Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Self-Inflicted

Doesn't this strike you as a little odd?

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.

Three head shots? Ouch. It gets worse though-

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.

"Each of the three head shots were fired while the gun was in contact with his skin, or extremely close to the skin," he said. "These three head wounds are consistent with self-inflicted wounds, and not consistent with long-range rifle fire."

So he was able to fire two shots up into his head from beneath his chin- and was then still capable of putting a third round into the side of his head?

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.

The fourth gunshot wound, Van Hollen said, struck Peterson in the left bicep and appeared to have been fired from a rifle "at some distance."

So let me get this straight- mass murderer puts his pistol up beneath his chin and pulls the trigger twice. Somehow then puts the gun to the side of his head to fire a third shot and, at the same time, a police sniper decides that now is the time to shoot him- but he either misses or deliberately aims for the guy's arm. Was Peterson left handed and was the sniper trying to disarm him? Seems a bit far-fetched to me. Was he shooting him to stop him shooting himself?

Then there's this description of events-

Peterson ended up at a cabin in the town of Argonne shortly before 8 a.m. He told friends about the shootings, handed over the AR-15 and two other rifles and left the cabin. After meeting with family members, he returned to the cabin around 9:15 a.m.

Police arrived about 15 minutes later, Van Hollen said. Peterson was killed during a police shootout after police couldn't persuade him to surrender.

So there was a shoot-out- but it seems that Peterson was a little busy shooting himself three times in the head to be that involved. Question I want answered is why the shot from "some distance" from the sniper wasn't fired until Peterson started putting holes in his own head- did he have sight of the target during the "shoot-out" but not fire until Peterson tried to kill himself? Or did Peterson move into view to shoot himself? Was the sniper trying to get a disarming shot in the middle of a shoot-out? Or did Peterson move at the moment he fired- and was that before or during the three shots to the head incident?

Odd, odd story.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I couldn't agree more... I live in Wisconsin and noticed that the news stories have stopped and there has been no more information given by that office or anyone else. In searching, I stumbled across that story and this blog. Between this and the other lack of consistency in details related to the timeline from various news stories -- the police being there at nine something in the morning and the shooting after noon? Apparently he took a nap in the back of his truck but the police were that far out that there was a "long distance" rifle shot. Seems odd to me too, very odd.

Jay.Mac said...

I haven't really been able to track the story after this- didn't local authorities advise people not to talk to the press? Or am I thinking of another case?