( News.com.au ) - SIX youths, including a 14-year-old girl, are believed to have been killed by a part-time police officer who went on a shooting rampage in a small US town before being shot dead by a sniper.
The suspect, reported widely to be 20-year-old Tyler Petersen, was an employee of the Forest County Sheriff's Department and a part-time officer for the Police Department in the town of Crandon, where the shootings occurred.
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel quoted friends of Petersen's saying he was "a good kid" who "likes to hunt and fish".
The shooting has rocked the small town in north-east Wisconsin which, with a population of just over 2000, is normally known for logging, fishing, hunting and snowmobiling.
The local mayor Gary Bradley was reported as saying the suspect was "brought down by a sniper".
"We are a strong community. We always have been," he said. "This is agonising , but we will prevail."
One of the dead was 14-year-old Lindsey Stahl, AP reported.
The victims were attending a party when the gunman opened fire at around 3 am local time yesterday (6pm Sunday AEST).
