Husband and wife dead, son injured in shooting in North Image neighborhood

A married couple died and their 23-year-old son was critically injured in a shooting early Monday morning at their house in east Vancouver. The crime may have been the result of domestic violence and no suspects are at large, police said.

Around sunrise, officers rushed to the home in the 13000 block of Northeast 52nd Street, in the North Image neighborhood, where they found Danny and Sandra Luster dead, along with the family dog, according to the Vancouver Police Department. Their son, Matt Luster, was sent by ambulance to PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center, where he was listed in critical condition in the hospital’s intensive care unit Monday night.

Sayge Sword, 15, who lives nearby, said she was rattled awake around 5:15 a.m. by the sounds of shouting, sobbing and screaming, and then she heard a gunshot.

Sword said she heard someone say: “You’re hurting my little brother. Dad stop.” She said she also heard a man scream: “How could you do this? There’s blood everywhere. You need to stop.”

After hearing the second gunshot, Sword said, she woke up her mom, and they called 911.

Vancouver police Lt. Kathy McNicholas said no one has been taken into custody in the shooting. Police did not say who they believe fired the shots.

Detectives with the agency’s major crimes unit are investigating and have applied for a warrant to search the house, McNicholas said.

KATU-TV reported that its helicopter pilot could see a shotgun lying on the porch of the home, which is in a suburb not far from the busy intersection of Northeast 117th Avenue and Fourth Plain Road.

James Hamburger, who said he’s known the family for 20 years, said Danny Luster worked in construction and was recently was laid off. Sandra Luster worked as a dental assistant, he said.

“It should have never happened,” he said, wiping away tears. “He’s a good guy. They had their problems.”

Hamburger said he’d spoken with Danny Luster about five days ago and said he seemed depressed.

“All of us who do that kind of work, we’ve been trying to stay busy and we just can’t anymore,” he said.