Wilsonville Spokesman Online

Two dead, two injured in Tualatin shooting Tuesday

TVFR and other area agencies responded

• Published: 11/10/2009 8:13:19 PM
• Last Updated: 11/11/2009 2:12:49 PM

Photo courtesy of TVFR
Ambulances staged behind TVFR's command post await directions. Not knowing initially how many victims were involved in the shooting, area agencies dispatched more than a dozen units to the scene.

TUALATIN - Two people were killed and two others injured Tuesday morning in a domestic violence shooting that drew responders from throughout the area.

At 11:48 a.m. Tuesday, the Tualatin Police Department, assisted by agencies from the surrounding areas, responded to reports of multiple shots fired in Tualatin. According to the reports, an armed subject had opened fire at Legacy MetroLab, a drug-testing center located in a strip mall at the intersection of Martinazzi Avenue and Warm Springs Street.

TPD identified the deceased Tuesday night as Teresa Marie Beiser and Robert James Beiser, both of Gladstone. Teresa Beiser, 36, a MetroLab employee, was pronounced dead from a gunshot wound. The shooting suspect was identified as her estranged husband, Robert Beiser, 39. He was also found dead at the scene, apparently from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, TPD said.

Investigators determined that the shooter entered the business armed with a rifle and fired multiple rounds, TPD said. The incident has been labeled an act of domestic violence.

Police secured the scene and declared the area safe by early afternoon, reporting that the suspected shooter was no longer at large. Two injured victims, both MetroLab employees, were transported to Portland hospitals.

Initial reports indicated as many as eight individuals may have been injured in the incident, in addition to the two deaths. The injury victims were identified Tuesday evening as a 63-year-old man with multiple gunshot wounds, who was flown by Life Flight to Oregon Health and Sciences University Hospital, and a 20-year-old who was transported by Metro West Ambulance to Legacy Emanuel Hospital with multiple non-life threatening laceration injuries.

Nearby streets were closed and businesses evacuated in the aftermath of the shooting. Not knowing immediately the magnitude of the incident, several emergency medical services agencies throughout the area sent resources to the site, TVFR said. Initial reports did not confirm how many victims were involved, so TVFR sent more than 10 units, Metro West Ambulance dispatched at least six ambulances, and the Lake Oswego Fire Department sent one unit to the scene.

Officers from the FBI, ATF, Oregon State Police, Washington County Sheriff's Office, Clackamas County Sheriff's Office and the Tigard, Hillsboro, Lake Oswego, Beaverton and King City police departments also responded.

“Initially, there was conflicting information coming in,” Karen Eubanks, TVRF public information officer, said in a press release. “We were hearing that we had the potential for as many as ten victims, so we were prepared for many more patients.”

Fearing the shooter remained at large, all fire and ambulance units were initially directed to nearby Tualatin Elementary School, TVFR said. Law enforcement officers soon cleared the units to enter the scene and begin patient care.

Two TVFR chaplains were also called to the scene and were assisting TPD with victim assistance and counseling as of Tuesday evening.

The investigation is ongoing.

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