Vancouver police detectives are wrapping up their investigation into an alleged murder-suicide that resulted in the death of two men Monday.
A shooting was reported about 11:30 a.m. at Benjamin Moore Paints, 1800 W. Fourth Plain Blvd., where police say an employee of the company reportedly shot a manager before apparently turning the gun on himself.
When police arrived, they found 45-year-old Ryan E. Momeny of Camas, a logistics manager at the paint warehouse, lying on the ground in front of another business in the complex. He died at the scene.
Responding officers then quickly located and surrounded a 2001 red Acura, described as belonging to the shooter, still in the parking lot of the Westside Business Center complex.
Inside they found Robert R. Brown, a 64-year-old driver for the company. Police said that he died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Investigators conducted interviews and collected evidence for the investigation, which they have called workplace violence.
“We have the information we need to determine what occurred,” said Kim Kapp, spokeswoman for the Vancouver Police Department. “We’ll wrap up our investigation and be done.”
What fueled the shooting, however, is not clear.
Kapp said that with the alleged perpetrator of the crime dead, the motive may be elusive.
“That may be a question that never fully gets answered because it can’t be,” she said.
Once the reports are written, Kapp said they would be forwarded to the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
In the case where an alleged perpetrator is dead, Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney John Fairgrieve said, a prosecuting attorney looks over the investigation and either sends feedback for more follow-up or confirms the detective’s findings, which then closes the case.
“One of our obligations is to see that an investigation is completed when there are allegations of a crime,” said Fairgrieve.
On Tuesday, Brian Cote, a former co-worker of Momeny, said he remembered him as a “really great guy.”
“He gave me a job when I got out of the Marine Corps,” Cote said. “It’s incredibly tragic what happened.”
