Suspect shoots, kills self when police attempt search of apartment

A woman shot and killed herself Tuesday afternoon when officers attempted to search an apartment near Vancouver Mall as part of an elder abuse investigation.

According to the Vancouver Police Department, officers had a search warrant in connection with the investigation for an apartment in the 5100 block of Northeast 72nd Avenue.

When officers arrived around 3 p.m., no one inside the second-floor apartment responded, so they entered.

Officials said officers entered the apartment’s bathroom, and the woman suspected in the case brandished a handgun at them, according to department spokeswoman Kim Kapp.

The officers pulled back outside of the apartment and attempted to talk her down, according to the police, and several minutes later they heard a single gunshot.

On-duty SWAT officers who were staged around the apartment complex attempted a tactical rescue after hearing the shot and found the woman dead, Kapp said.

The Clark County Sheriff’s Office is investigating.