Stuart and Christina Rouse murder suicide: Clark County, Vancouver dad shoots and kills wife, daughters, brother then self. No known motive.
A Washington state man fatally shot his wife, their two adult daughters and adult brother dead inside their Vancouver home in a murder-suicide over the weekend.
While authorities had yet to release the names of the deceased, property records at (11505 N.E. 92nd St) Northeast 92nd Street and Northeast 115th Avenue list Stuart and Christina Rouse as the home owners at the address where the carnage took place.
The apparent shooter, thought to be Stuart Rouse, 64, is reported to have had no known criminal history, with police saying they had never been called to the house before, Clark County Sheriff Sgt. Chris Skidmore said during a Monday news conference.
‘Typical normal family who kept to themselves’
The victims are believed to have included the gunman’s wife, Christina Rouse, his younger brother Brian P Rouse and his two daughters Melissa Rouse and Kristina Rouse. It wasn’t immediately clear if all five family members lived at the Bremerton address.
Neighbors described the family as ‘typical’ and ‘normal,’ saying they would say ‘hello’ in passing — while mainly keeping to themselves.
On the morning of the shooting one neighbor said they heard screaming coming from outside the home, according to KOIN.
Shots were recorded coming from the house on another neighbor’s surveillance camera at around 10:20 a.m., Sunday morning the Oregonian reported.
‘Unfortunately, it’s not the first time we’ve seen something kind of similar that shocks the conscience like this,’ Skidmore said during Monday’s news conference.
The police chief said first respondents arrived to the scene believing the victims may already be dead after receiving a call from the suspected shooter’s relative.
No known motive
The relative said he received a text message from the suspected shooter at around 10 a.m. saying that he ‘had harmed others,’ KOIN reported.
Unfortunately, the relative did not see the text message for another few hours, and when he failed to reach his family, the unidentified relative called emergency dispatch to conduct a welfare check at the home.
It wasn’t until just after 1pm that first respondents arrived at the scene.
For several hours after, deputies stood outside the home using bullhorns to call on the shooter to leave the house with his hands up.
The police had figured since so many hours had passed since the relative received the text message, any victims inside may already be dead.
In that case, the home would be considered a crime scene — so they would have to wait for a judge to issue a search warrant, Skidmore explained at the news conference Monday, according to KGW 8.
They also knew the homeowners had firearms inside the home, and would need a SWAT team to respond.
At no point were any gunshots fired during the arrival of law enforcement.
Neighbor, J.D. Hartman, who moved into the street around four months ago, said he watched as the SWAT team used a battering ram to pry open the front door.
But he said the door only opened a bit, and looked like it had been barricaded.
‘I had this eerie feeling that something was going on that shouldn’t be going on,’ he told the Columbian.
Deputies then flew a drone into the home, and found several people who appeared to be dead, the sheriff’s office said.
Mental health cited
Roshell Neibert, who lives across the street, told the Oregonian she heard one officer saying the camera showed three bodies in one room, another body in another room and the suspect’s body in the bathroom.
SWAT members and medics then entered the home, and determined that the five family members were already dead at the scene.
Marshall and Futeen Wills, who have lived in the neighborhood for 40 years, claimed the shooting ‘came out of the blue.’
They said that when they arrived home on Sunday afternoon and saw SWAT vehicles parked near their home, they initially thought it was a prank and someone had falsely called the cops on their neighbors.
It was only when they saw cops put up crime scene tape that they knew something serious had happened.
Neibert now says the whole ordeal makes her ‘want to be more neighborly.’
‘People are struggling, and you just never know,’ she said.
To Hartman, Sunday’s shooting highlights the need for more mental health resources in the community, especially around this time of year. He said it’s sad it takes a tragedy like this for some to realize the importance of seeking help.
‘You never think it’s going to happen right next to you,’ Hartman reiterated.
The Clark County Sheriff’s Office Major Crimes Unit is continuing its investigation, and it may take several days for the Medical Examiner’s office to conclude the causes and times of deaths for the victims.
