Suspected Homicide-Suicide Under Investigation

Official causes of death as well as toxicology reports and forensics information may still be two to three months away in the investigation of the deaths of an Enumclaw couple reported late Friday that is believed to be a homicide-suicide, police said today.

Enumclaw police and fire responded to a 911 call at around 7:30 p.m. Friday indicating that a married couple, Amy and Zachary Erwin, was found deceased with multiple gunshot wounds in their home on the 1700 block of Washington Avenue, police Lt. Eric Sortland said.

The couple was reportedly separated and in the process of filing for divorce, he said. They do have two children though they were not in the home during the shooting. No one else was found in the home when police responded.

A preliminary investigation indicates that the husband had shot his wife and then shot himself, Sortland said. However, police are waiting for final results of the forensics investigation that is being handled by the Washington state crime lab, as well as autopsy and toxicology reports from the King County Medical Examiner's Office for confirmation.

Neighbor and Patch Local Voices contributor Dr. Mary Ballard said the neighborhood in which the Erwins lived was very close-knit and the shooting has hit the community hard. "It's devastating," she said. 

According to the Courier-Herald, Amy Erwin was a teacher at  in Bonney Lake.

The investigation into this shooting continues as police look deeper into a cause or motive behind the shooting, Sortland said. "Police, for the following weeks, will delve more deeply into the background of the couple and try to find a cause or circumstance that led to this tragic shooting," he said.

Enumclaw police handles a number of domestic violence incidents though one which leads to a double fatality like this is rare, Sortland said. "We deal with domestic violence at all different levels of violence," he said. "Some involve absolutely no injuries while at the other end of the spectrum, there are tragedies like the incident last night. We're fortunate that it is such a rare occurrence, and we are able most of the time to intervene before a situation escalates."

For a close community like Enumclaw, however, even one incident is too many. "Our hearts, prayers and thoughts go out to the surviving family -- the children and friends of the victims in this case," he said.

Editor's Note: A Facebook page has been set up in memory of Amy Erwin.