The Clark County Medical Examiner’s Office has identified Vancouver’s Hamzai Rudolph Jr. as the man fatally shot after reportedly kicking in the door of an apartment unit last month in east Vancouver.
Rudolph, 31, died from a gunshot wound to the chest, the medical examiner’s office said Wednesday. His death was ruled a homicide, meaning it resulted from another person’s deliberate action. The ruling does not make any judgments about criminal culpability.
Vancouver police responded shortly before 9 a.m. Dec. 27 for a reported disturbance with a weapon at the Fisher’s Mill Apartments on the 1000 block of Southeast 160th Avenue, according to a Vancouver Police Department news release.
A woman who identified herself as Teressa Horine called 911 to report that she had “just shot my son-in-law.” She then identified Rudolph as the man she’d shot. She also said he had kicked in the door to her apartment and had been threatening her, according to a search warrant affidavit filed Dec. 28 in Clark County Superior Court.
Horine told dispatchers that she had used a .22-caliber handgun and said she had placed it on her bed, the affidavit states.
Arriving officers said they found a man, later confirmed to be Rudolph, dead in the threshold of the door. Officers also noted a muddy footprint on the door, the affidavit states. No other injuries were reported.
The affidavit states that county property records show Rudolph’s former girlfriend lived at the apartment, along with her mother, Horine.
The shooting remains under investigation, Vancouver police spokeswoman Kim Kapp said Wednesday, and detectives have not referred criminal charges against Horine at this time. But the affidavit states that detectives were searching for evidence of the crime of second-degree murder. Detectives determined that Horine does not have a criminal history.
Detectives said they learned of a history of domestic violence incidents at the apartment involving Rudolph, as well as a police bulletin about him from earlier that day; the bulletin stated that Rudolph had threatened to die by suicide if he was contacted by police. It also noted that his former girlfriend told officers he had a firearm as recently as a month prior, according to the affidavit.
Detectives said they also learned Rudolph had a warrant out of Oregon for robbery.
