Posted on 11/10/2009 1:00:44 PM PST by Carling
PORTLAND, Ore. -- A shooting has been reported and confirmed at a Tualatin strip mall, police said.
Few details were available. According to Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue, there may be as many as 10 victims.
The shooting was reported at 7575 SW Mohawk at the Martinazzi intersection.
Police first confirmed that a shooting had occurred sometime after 11 a.m.
(Excerpt) Read more at kgw.com ...
Finally some good info. Of course they took the opportunity to promote an agenda, but that’s the norm with stories about that sort of thing these days.
2 Dead, 2 Injured In Tualatin Shooting
POSTED: 6:41 am PST November 11, 2009
UPDATED: 8:23 am PST November 11, 2009
TUALATIN, Ore. -- A man inside a drug testing facility where a gunman opened fire Tuesday said the shooter pointed the rifle at him and told him to leave.
Tualatin police said 39-year-old Robert Beiser fired several shots inside and outside Legacy Metro Lab, killing his estranged wife and then fatally shooting himself in what officers described as a "domestic violence situation." Two lab workers were injured.
James Lund said he showed up at the drug testing lab for a pre-employment drug test. He said he heard gunshots and then Beiser soon walked through the front door.
"As I was looking at the glass, I looked back up and the gunman was coming in the door with a rifle," Lund said. "He basically told me to 'Get the ---- out' and I didn't argue with him."
Lund said he ran out the door and hid behind a van across the parking lot. Meanwhile, he said, terror rang out inside.
"In the meantime, I hear three more shots," he said. "And then there was a space of time where there was one shot."
Lund flagged down a driver and they dialed 911. Tualatin police responded and found the bodies of Beiser and his estranged wife, 36-year-old Teresa Beiser, inside the business. The couple lived in Gladstone.
Police Chief Kent Barker said it was "chaotic" when officers first arrived at the scene of the shooting. Nearby schools went into lockdown while officers investigated.
Two lab workers were injured in the shooting, including a 63-year-old man who was rushed to Oregon Health & Science University to undergo surgery. A 20-year-old woman suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
"Truthfully, fight or flight kicked in," Lund said. "It was like the first thought I had was to get out or you're going to die. Straight up, you're going to die. And I wasn't in the mood to die today."
Lund said he feels fortunate to escape with no significant injuries, but wonders if he could have done more to help others.
"I'm ex military and the only thing is, I still have a problem with the fact that I didn't wrestle the rifle away," he said. "Why did he let me go? He shot two other people that were in the building and the other lady. Why did he let me go? I don't know."
Lund was held for questioning by Washington County deputies. He later was allowed to return to the scene to collect his belongings left behind when the shots rang out.
Witness says injured woman shouted: ‘Get me out of here!’
BY ED JOHNSON
The Times, Nov 10, 2009,
Updated 12 hours ago
A 39-year-old Gladstone man shot and killed his estranged wife Tuesday morning at the Tualatin drug-test lab where she worked in what police are calling an act of domestic violence.
Tualatin police said Robert James Beiser killed 36-year-old Teresa Marie Beiser, also of Gladstone, in an attack shortly before noon at the Legacy MetroLab on Southwest Mohawk Street in Tualatin. Robert Beiser then turned his weapon on himself, and died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Two other MetroLab employees also were wounded in the attack. A 63-year-old man was taken by Life Flight helicopter to Oregon Health and Science University Hospital, where he had surgery for multiple gunshot wounds. A 20-year-old woman was injured by flying glass and was treated at Legacy Emanuel Hospital and Medical Center for her non-life-threatening injuries.
Witnesses said that just before noon a man later identified as Robert Beiser, armed with a rifle, walked up to the Legacy MetroLab, 7587 S.W. Mohawk St., and opened fire on people in the building.
Beiser began shooting before he entered the building, blowing out one of the lab's front windows. People in businesses several hundred yards away from the lab said they heard the rifle shots.
Police responded to the building within two minutes. Inside they found Teresa Beiser dead from a gunshot wound. Robert Beiser also died in the building.
Tualatin Police Chief Kent Barker told reporters that investigators were still trying to piece together details of the attack and did not have a motive for the shooting. Police released the names of the husband and wife at about 8 p.m.
Legacy MetroLab provides drug and alcohol testing for Portland-area employers. The Tualatin lab is one of five MetroLab locations in the region.
Brian Terrett, director of public relations for Legacy Health Systems, declined to discuss details of the lab or its employees. He said Legacy would provide counselors for the region's other lab employees.
"We are shocked and devastated by this," Terrett said. "Obviously we don't expect this type of thing to happen at our workplaces."
Heard loud pops
Dave Merriman, who was driving near the building at the time of the shooting, said that at around 11:48 a.m. he saw a woman in a white lab coat covered in blood running down Martinazzi Avenue from the Tualatin Business Park just west of Interstate 5. She was trying to get the attention of a driver.
“She lunged in front of the truck and screamed, ‘Get me out of here as fast you can!’ ” Merriman said.
Merriman and the truck’s driver helped the woman get to a nearby Subway restaurant, where she was treated by paramedics. He said that the woman, who worked at Legacy MetroLab, told him an armed man walked into the clinic’s office and started shooting. “She told me that he came right into the office with two guns and just opened fire,” he said.
Merriman said that he heard loud pops fired from an area near the intersection just before noon. He called emergency dispatchers but the line was busy. A few minutes after he heard the shots, several police officers zoomed to the area in their patrol cars, he said.
Merriman said the woman he helped suffered minor injuries, mostly cuts from glass, and was treated by medical workers.
Nearby businesses and schools, including Kindercare day care center, which is less than a block away from shooting location, were locked down during the incident.
ejohnson@commnewspapers.com
Reporter Nick Peterson of the Tigard/Tualatin Times and KPAM 860 contributed to this news story.
A couple years ago I had a guy working for me who had a tough time dealing with a split (ironically, his wife was also a competitive bodybuilder and also worked as a trainer at a 24 Hour Fitness shop). He basically abandoned the workplace and chased after her several states away. Unemployment was low then and it's usually tough to find people in my business so I tried my best to keep him on the job, but after 6 months I had to cut him loose. Far as I know he and his wife are still going back and forth and he has lost at least one other good job over it. But at least it hasn't come to violence.
Some people can go berserk of over a break up or infidelity. They get really enraged that they can kill. Some people go really far for love.
Thank you for the update Star Traveler.
Ok... things are getting a little freaky. This is way too close to where I live, I was in Tualatin just yesterday, AT the Hospital (Meridian Park) for a Dr. Appt while this was going on.
That’s a relief! </sarc>
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