Thread: 4 dead in Coronado shooting CA.

4 dead in Coronado shooting

CORONADO — Three men and a woman were found dead early New Year's Day in a Park Place condominium in Coronado, authorities said Sunday.

Coronado police received a 911 call from a cellphone at 2:20 a.m. of shots being fired at the condominium near Orange and Isabella avenues, said sheriff's homicide Lt. Larry Nesbit. When officers arrived four minutes later, they found a man dead in the doorway of the condo from apparent gunshot wounds, Nesbit said.

Officers attempted to make contact with anyone inside the condo, but were unsuccessful, Nesbit said.

Police officials then asked for assistance from the Sheriff's Department, which sent deputies and SWAT team members, he said. A SWAT robot searched the first floor of the condo, and deputies searched the second and third floors, Nesbit said.

Two men and a woman were found dead inside the condo, he said. He would not say where they were found in the unit or if they also had been shot.

However, Nesbit emphasized that there are no outstanding suspects.

Members of Naval Criminal Investigative Service were at the scene, but Nesbit said authorities have not yet determined if any of the dead are in the military. The Navy Seals are headquartered in Coronado, which is also home to North Island Naval Air Station.

Ed Buice, a spokesman for NCIS in Washington, D.C., said the agency is participating in the investigation.

A search warrant was issued Sunday afternoon and officers were preparing to enter the condominium about 3 p.m. and begin crime scene work.

Dottie Ladas, who lives in the neighborhood, walked up to the area outside the condominiums to see what was going on. She said her friend, who lives on the second floor of a home less than a block away heard the gunshots. She had gotten out of bed and looked out the window to see what was going on, Ladas said.

This is the second time in less than six months that Coronado, a popular tourist city of 25,000 people, has been the scene of a major police investigation.

In July, Rebecca Zahau, 32, was found hanging nude, bound at the wrists and ankles, from a balcony at the historic Spreckels mansion. Her millionaire boyfriend, Jonah Shacknai, founder and CEO of an Arizona pharmaceutical company, owned the oceanfront home. His son was mortally injured in a fall at the mansion a few days before Zahau's death.

Greg Panawek, who has lived in the town since 1954, said that it has been an atypical year for Coronado, referring to the the Zahau death. He said he was astounded and saddened by the news that four were found dead.

"Being New Year's, I bet alcohol and some other form of passion was involved," Panawek said.

As with Sunday's incident, the Coronado Police Department, which has only 44 sworn officers, asked the Sheriff's Department to take over the investigation. Sheriff's investigators and the county Medical Examiner's Office determined Zahau's death was a suicide, though her family continues to believe she was killed and want the case reopened.

On Sunday, Sheriff Bill Gore was at the crime scene "due to the magnitude of the situation," Nesbit said.

Homicides are rare in Coronado. A fatal DUI crash in the city in 2010 was charged as a homicide by the District Attorney's Office. There also was a murder-suicide in February 2007.

But with four dead, Sunday's case is particularly unusual, Nesbit said.

"This would be huge for any city. This is particularly huge for this city," he said.

Tourists and residents alike milled about the street, which has a liquor store on one side and a restaurant on the other and was cordoned off by yellow police tape. Many just shook their heads in disbelief when they heard what had happened.

Peter Kunowski was heading to the Hotel del Coronado with his family for lunch when he heard the news. "Terrible way to start a new year," Kunowski said.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2...d-swat-called/

"Two of the victims appear to be military personnel, according to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which is assisting in the investigation."

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lano...san-diego.html

Nesbit said authorities had not yet determined if any of the dead were members of the military.

Hubbard, though, said his neighbors were three young naval aviators receiving training at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station. He saw one of the roommates dead outside the condo Sunday morning.

“They were great guys,” Hubbard said, “just regular nice lieutenants junior grade. Products of naval ROTC — frat boys in uniform.”

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2...d-swat-called/

Two Navy personnel and siblings among four dead after mystery New Year's Day 'murder-suicide' at condo near naval base

Passer-by called police after hearing shots fired outside California home

Included in four dead were brother and sister; and 'two military personnel'

By David Richards and Mark Duell
Last updated at 4:43 PM on 2nd January 2012

Four people were found dead after a mystery shooting in the early hours of New Year's Day at a home in a wealthy seaside suburb - including a brother and sister.

A passer-by called police on his mobile phone after hearing shots being fired outside the San Diego Bay condo in Coronado, California, at 2.20am on Sunday morning.

The first officers arrived within four minutes and found a man in the doorway of the condo dead from an apparent gunshot wound. Police have not yet identified any suspects.
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A passerby called police on his mobile phone after hearing shots being fired at this address in Coronado in San Diego Bay at 2.20am.
'They checked and he had no obvious signs of life,’ Sheriff's Lieutenant Larry Nesbit said. ‘They tried to make contact with anyone else that might be inside the building and they got no response.’
A SWAT team then sent in a robot to the first floor and later searched the second and third floors. The bodies of two men and a woman were discovered in different parts of the three-storey building.

More...Trooper suspended after police car hits Atlanta Braves baseball trainer's SUV and kills his wife

Asked if it was a murder-suicide, he said: 'I'll let it infer what it does. We're not going to say that. Although it's very early in the investigation, we don't believe there are any outstanding suspects.'
Police said two men and two women were inside - including a brother and sister. Two victims appear to be military personnel, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service told the Los Angeles Times.


A SWAT team sent in a robot to the first floor of the building before searching the second and third floors. The bodies of two men and a woman were discovered in different parts of the three-storey building
Coronado, where 24,000 people live, is home to Naval Air Station North Island where several aircraft carriers are based and is a haven for Navy pensioners. Murders are extremely rare in the area.
'This is Coronado, for heaven’s sake. The biggest thing that happens here is a kid rides his bike on the sidewalk'
Don Hubbard, 85
‘This is Coronado, for heaven’s sake,’ local man and retired naval officer Don Hubbard, 85, told Sign On San Diego. ‘The biggest thing that happens here is a kid rides his bike on the sidewalk.’
However in July last year the area made national headlines when the naked girlfriend of a millionaire was found hanged in his Coronado mansion.
Police sources said Rebecca Zahau, 32, killed herself two days after her boyfriend's six-year-old son was fatally injured while in her care (see box).
Close: The killings took place just a few blocks from the famous Hotel del Coronado (pictured), where it was long speculated that the Prince of Wales, later to become King Edward VIII, visited and met Spencer Simpson
‘The amount of crime happening in Coronado is absolutely unacceptable,’ local man Jerry Toci told 10 News. ‘This is supposed to be a quaint little village where people come to sleep, not to party.’
'The amount of crime happening in Coronado is absolutely unacceptable. This is supposed to be a quaint little village where people come to sleep, not to party'
Jerry Toci
Officers from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) were called to the scene of Sunday's shootings in case any of the victims were military personnel.
Mr Hubbard told Sign On San Diego that he thought his neighbours were three young naval aviators who were training at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station.
NCIS is the federal law enforcement agency which conducts investigations of offences - punishable by imprisonment of more than a year - affecting the Navy and Marine Corps.
Famed: Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe in the 1959 film 'Some Like It Hot'. The Hotel Del Coronado can be seen in the background
NCIS spokesman Ed Buice said its investigators were participating in the probe, which was being led by the Sheriff's Department.
THE REBECCA ZAHAU SUICIDE CASE

The Coronado area was rocked last year by an apparent suicide at a millionaire’s mansion when his lover allegedly hanged herself.
Rebecca Zahau, 32, died at the mansion of Jonah Shacknai, 54, in July, two days after his son Max, 6, was fatally hurt from a fall off the stairs while she was looking after him.
Her family believed she did not commit suicide but police were not convinced to reopen the case following the results of a second autopsy that was discussed on the TV show Dr Phil.
‘This is very shocking,’ neighbour Julie Lisne told 10 News. ‘We think we live in such a safe little town - so it's always shocking and sad.’
The condo sits a few blocks from the famed Hotel del Coronado and a block from the main street, which is lined with boutiques and restaurants.
Eleven U.S. presidents have visited the hotel beginning with Benjamin Harrison in 1891 - just three years after the beachfront resort was built.
In 1920 the Prince of Wales, later to become King Edward VIII, visited and it has long been speculated that it was at the hotel that he first met Coronada divorcee Wallis Spencer Simpson. It was 16 years later that he gave up the throne to marry her.
The hotel is also where a banquet was hosted to honour aviator Charles Lindbergh after he crossed the Atlantic in the 'Spirit of St Louis'. A replica of the plane circled the hotel's Crown Room ceiling during the dinner, according to the hotel website.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz1iKOtYT00

Details emerging about 4 dead in Coronado

Written by Jeanette Steele
4:32 p.m., Jan. 2, 2012

CORONADO — Two of the four people killed in a shooting early New Year’s Day in a Coronado condo were a Bakersfield brother and sister, their father said Monday.

David Reis, 25, was a Navy F/A-18 pilot in training at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station, said his father, Tom Reis of Bakersfield.

Karen Reis, 24, was a former University of California San Diego volleyball player. After college, she stayed in San Diego and served as an assistant high school volleyball coach and worked at Trader Joe’s, her father said.

The names of two other men killed in the Park Place condo have not been released by authorities. One was a 25-year-old Navy man also assigned to Miramar, according to the Medical Examiner’s Office and military officials. The other was a 31-year-old civilian who lives in Chula Vista.

The shooting occurred in a condominium just off the city’s main thoroughfare, Orange Avenue. At 2:20 a.m. Sunday, Coronado police responded to a call of shots fired at the Park Place unit and found a man lying dead in the doorway of the residence.

Searching inside, they found two other men and a woman, all dead.

The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, which is leading the investigation, provided no new details on the case Monday, including a motive for the shooting. A spokeswoman said more information may be released Tuesday.

Three young Navy pilots appear to have been renting the condominium. One apparently was out of town during the shooting and is returning to San Diego. David Reis and the third roommate are believed to be among the dead.

David and Karen Reis’ family was in shock over the shooting and didn’t know anything about the circumstances, Tom Reis said.

His son graduated from the University of New Mexico with a mechanical engineering degree and was commissioned as a naval officer in 2008, his father said in a telephone interview.

Karen Reis lived near Balboa Park and often saw her brother, as they were close, their father said.

The Reis family is focused on transferring their son and daughter to Bakersfield for burial and planning a memorial service, Tom Reis said.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2...dead-coronado/

Navy pilot killed self in San Diego murder-suicide

Updated 25m ago

SAN DIEGO (AP) – A New Year's Day shooting that left four dead at a condominium near San Diego was a murder-suicide involving a 25-year-old Navy pilot who killed himself, officials said Wednesday.

Autopsy results show John Robert Reeves shot himself in the head, and the three others with him were murdered, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department said.

A fellow Navy pilot, 25-year-old David Reis, was killed by a gunshot wound to the torso and his 24-year-old sister, Karen, suffered a gunshot wound to the head and chest, officials said. A 31-year-old Chula Vista man, Matthew Saturley, was shot multiple times.

STORY: 2 Navy pilots among 4 dead at condo
No details on the motive of the killings were released. Officials previously said that one of the men was found dead in the doorway of the three-story condo and the bodies of two men and a woman were inside the home.

The deaths shook Coronado, a picturesque peninsular enclave of 24,000 people on San Diego Bay that draws tourists and recorded only one homicide in 2010. The city is home to Naval Air Station North Island, serves as a training area for Navy SEALs, and is a haven for Navy retirees.

David Reis shared the condominium with two Navy pilots, said neighbor Don Hubbard, a retired Navy commander.

Hubbard was awakened by shots that he thought were fired by New Year's revelers. He went back to sleep, but two hours later got a phone call and heard SWAT teams swarming the area.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...ing/52378766/1