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Woman decapitated by gunfire:

This happened about 1/3 mile down the road from my work. I was at work while it took place, and was on lockdown for about 3 hours because it was assumed the gunman was roaming the area with an AK47. Friggin crazy...

Auburn woman decapitated by gunfire

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...510-24739f.jpg

Staff report Friday, March 30, 2007 PHOTO GALLERY
Murder scene « Previous | Next » http://www.sunjournal.com/photos/200...510-24739s.jpg[/align] thumbnails | gallery LoadPhoto(); AUBURN - Margaret Peters was shot and killed outside her home Friday morning when a man opened fire with an assault rifle on Minot Avenue. As of 3:30, the gunman was still engaged in a tense stannd-off with state and local police.

The shooter and the victim knew each other, Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety, said, and it was not a random slaying.

The body of Margaret Peters was sprawled out close to the doorway of her home when police arrived at about 10:30 a.m. Friday. She was clad in a blue sweater over what appears to be a white nightgown. There were shoes or slippers on her feet.

The woman's body remained in the driveway and the spokesman said it would be risky to remove it in view of the gunman.

The man did not respond to police telephone calls to the home or to attempts to talk to him through a megaphone or loudspeaker. He stepped out of the house once, but no shots were exchanged, said McCausland.

Neighbor Joan Merrill, who has known Margaret Peters for years, wasn’t sure whether there was anyone other than Margaret living in the home at 1806 Minot Ave.

Merrill was told by police that a woman was decapitated by gunfire and was lying on the driveway. She was also told that a "man was running around with an AK47." Merrill was instructed to return to her home and lock her doors.

Peters purchased the Minot Avenue property with her husband in July 2001. The Sun Journal phoned several of Peters' neighbors as the stand-off unfolded but no one knew her well, most of them not at all.

Margaret's husband Wilbur died in 2005 after he apparently choked while eating. A son, John Peters, committed suicide in 2006 at his apartment in New Auburn.

After Margaret Peters was hospitalized earlier this year, she moved back into her home and another son, James, moved in with her, according to a friend of the family.

A man who lives down the road from Margaret Peters said he was told in the minutes after the shooting that a man had shot his mother at 1806 Minot Ave.

Other neighbors said they did not realize what was going on until they saw police officers with their guns drawn. Still others recieved a recorded message from the police department.

"The police told us to lock our doors," said Debbie Landry, who works in an office building at 690 Minot Ave. "They (office managers) posted someone out front to keep an eye on who's coming into the building."

State police used an armored vehicle to evacuate four to six neighbors living near the scene of the shooting.

A police officer and a emergency medical technician were stationed in the home of at least one neighbor who did not wish to be evacuated.

The state police tactical team responds to about 24 such incidents per year, McCausland said. "This is what they train for all year long."

Reporters were moved about 100 yards from the scene because of concern that the gunman would be able to view live video reports on television that could alert him to movements of the tactical squad.