A part-time policeman went on a shooting rampage early this a.m., killing six people before being shot dead by a sniper. Details are sketchy, but the gunman was named as Tyler Peterson, 20, and his victims were aged between 14 and 24. The rampage took place in tiny Crandall, Wisconsin.

Peterson may have been in a relationship with one of the group.

One of the dead was 14-year-old Lindsey Stahl, said her mother, Jenny Stahl, 39. According to reports:

She said her daughter phoned her on Saturday night and asked if she could sleep over at a friend’s house. “I’m waiting for somebody to wake me up right now. This is a bad, bad dream,” Mrs Stahl said. “All I heard, it was a jealous boyfriend and he went berserk. He took them all out.”

It was reported last night another of the victims was a high school pupil and four others were recent graduates.

Bud Evans, an elder at the Crandon Praise Chapel, said worried relatives had gathered at the church as they waited for news.

“They’re coming and going; there’s probably 100 or more that are gathered here. “If there’s five or six  children involved in this, I’d know every one of them, the community’s that small and that tight-knit,” Evans said.

Small town, big tragedy. And like the Virginia Tech case, the shooter is dead. His family and friends will have to provide the insight needed here.

And we know how much that’ll be.