Coronado, California, Shooting Kills 4, Including 2 Navy Pilots, Sister

Apparent murder-suicide claims lives of two Navy pilots, sister, unknown man.

ByABC News
January 3, 2012, 11:06 AM

Jan. 3, 2012— -- A shooting in Coronado, Calif., that left four people dead, including two Navy pilots and one of their sisters, is being investigated as an apparent murder-suicide.

The New Year's Day shooting in a condo there claimed the lives of siblings David and Karen Reis, 25 and 24, respectively, as well as David's roommate, John Reeves, 25, and a fourth unknown man.

David Reis and Reeves were both pilots in the Navy, and shared the condo home in Coronado, sources told ABC affiliate KGTV. The other dead man is a 31-year-old civilian who lives in Chula Vista, according to the county Medical Examiner's Office.

The siblings and Reeves went out together in downtown San Diego to celebrate New Year's Eve Saturday night, and returned to the condo with the fourth man, whose identity has not been released, the sources said.

A retired Navy pilot who lives next door to the condo told KGTV that he heard seven shots early Sunday morning. "There were two shots, about a five-second pause, and then five more," Don Hubbard said.

Hubbard said he spoke with police after the shooting, who said they believed the crime was a murder-suicide and that they had found the murder weapon.

"I was very concerned because here we had a killing in my backyard," Hubbard said. "I asked them and they all seemed to think that it was a murder-suicide."

Hubbard said David Reis moved in during the summer and the second pilot who was killed had only lived there a couple months.

San Diego County Sheriff Lt. Larry Nesbit said police officers responded to a report of shots fired at the residence around 2:20 a.m. and arrived to find an adult male victim, with an apparent gunshot wound, lying in the doorway of the building. He had no signs of life, Nesbit said.

After a robot inspection of the residence, police and SWAT team members searched and found three other bodies inside the residence. Nesbit would not comment on whether a weapon was found or gunfire was exchanged, but said the police do not believe there are any outstanding suspects.

The Coronado Police Department, Naval Criminal Investigative Services, the sheriff's Homicide Detail and sheriff's Crime Lab were participating in the 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 local 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."

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 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.