Navy Fighter Pilot Implicated in Coronado Murder-Suicide
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David De Lossy/Thinkstock(CORONADO, Calif.) — A Navy fighter pilot is implicated in the shooting deaths of three others and himself in Coronado, Calif., according to new information released by authorities Wednesday.
Police say that John Robert Reeves, 25, is the only one of the four to have died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, and his death is ruled a suicide, while the three others are classified as homicides.
Reeves, an F-18 Navy pilot who was sharing a home with fellow pilot David Reis in Coronado, died of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head, police said. Reis, 25, along with his sister Karen Reis, 24, and a third man, Matthew Christopher Saturley, 31, all died of shots to their heads, chests, and torsos, police said.
The shooting took place around 2:30 a.m. on New Year’s Day after the foursome had been out celebrating the holiday in San Diego bars, sources told ABC affiliate KGTV. Neighbors called police after hearing shots ring out, and police arrived to find the four bodies, police said.
A next-door neighbor, Don Hubbard, said that police told him it was a murder-suicide and that a weapon had been recovered. Police would not confirm that it was a murder-suicide, but said that there was no outstanding suspect.
Police said they are continuing their investigation.
Tom Reis, the father of the two siblings killed, said David Reis was an F-18 pilot who had just taken his first official flight in December, while his sister was a recent graduate of the University of California-San Diego and a volleyball coach.
“We don’t know the circumstances,” Reis said. “We don’t know what happened. We only know that they’re no longer with us.”
Reeves’ family was not able to be reached for comment.
The shooting is the second mysterious incident to happen in the typically quiet beach community in six months. The condo home where the four victims were found is not far from the Coronado mansion of Jonah Shacknai, whose girlfriend Rebecca Zahau was found hanging, nude, in July, two days after his 6-year-old son suffered a fatal fall while under her care.
Authorities ruled her death a suicide, but a pathologist hired by Zahau’s family said later that he had doubts she killed herself.
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