Self-Inflicted Gunshot Wounds

It's suspected that Tyler Peterson fired the shots that killed him.

Crandon -- Of the dozens of bullets fired by Tyler Peterson as he mowed down friends and Crandon High School classmates in a fatal flurry, authorities said Tuesday, he apparently saved the last few for himself.

Evidence shows the 20-year-old Forest County sheriff's deputy and part-time Crandon police officer likely committed suicide by shooting himself in the head with his .40-caliber handgun as law enforcement officers closed in on him, hours after Peterson killed six young people, said Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen.

Peterson left behind a chaotic, blood-soaked scene inside a white duplex where two victims died while trying to hide in a bedroom closet and another victim survived only by playing dead.

Peterson was hit by four bullets - one to his bicep, which came from a long distance, and three to his head. Two of the shots were nonfatal wounds underneath Peterson's chin, with the fatal shot entering the right side of his head, Van Hollen said. All three head wounds showed signs the gun was held against the skin.

In a chilling timeline released at a news briefing Tuesday afternoon, Van Hollen also answered questions that have dogged investigators as the public wondered what happened early Sunday.

For the first time, authorities gave an account of the scene inside the home, with three bodies - those of Bradley Schultz, 20; Lindsey Stahl, 14; and Aaron Smith - found near a couch. The body of Jordanne Murray, 18, was found inside the kitchen, and the bodies of Lianna Thomas, 18, and Katrina McCorkle, 18, were found inside or just outside a bedroom closet, where they apparently were trying to hide.

The only person to survive the attack, 21-year-old Charlie Neitzel, apparently tried to reason with Peterson inside the kitchen but was shot in the leg. He continued to plead with Peterson before being shot two more times. Peterson stopped shooting only when Neitzel played dead, Van Hollen said.

As more details emerge, it must be getting even more difficult for family and friends of the victims, as well as the shooter, to grasp all of this.

God be with them.