Two people were dead after a shooting Thursday morning in what police are calling a murder-suicide in the parking lot of a central Vancouver apartment complex.
Vancouver police were called at 8:09 a.m. to the complex in the 4300 block of Plomondon Street in the Bagley Downs neighborhood for a report of a disturbance with a weapon, according to emergency dispatch logs.
A caller reported seeing a man in the parking lot with a gun and then hearing gunshots, police said in a news release.
When officers arrived, they found two people dead, including the suspected shooter, the news release states. Police have not stated the deceased’s relationship.
The Clark County Medical Examiner’s Office will release their identities and causes and manners of death, police said.
A landlord for the complex said one of the people killed was a woman who was a long-term tenant.
Detectives with Vancouver police’s Major Crimes Unit were on scene Thursday morning, and responders had erected barriers in front of the complex’s driveway. Investigators were working in the complex’s parking lot. The Vancouver Fire Department and AMR also responded.
One resident of a nearby complex said he was worried about safety in the area, especially with many children living in the densely packed complexes.
“It’s concerning to have this stuff going on here in my neck of the woods,” Joel Johnson said.
Johnson has lived in his unit for 20 years, he said, and for a long time, there were not many problems. But he feared Thursday’s shooting is a sign his neighborhood is changing. He said, typically, if he sees police in the area it’s for a domestic disturbance or an eviction.
“This has been the biggest sign things are changing — and it’s not for the better,” Johnson said.
Another neighbor said he arrived home to a large police presence by the apartments behind his. His girlfriend, who was home at the time, heard gunshots, he said, and saw neighboring families fleeing by jumping the fence dividing their complexes.
