VANCOUVER, Wash. — The woman accused of shooting and injuring a worker at a Veterans Affairs office is a former employee of the office, the Clark County sheriff’s office said.
The office also disclosed Wednesday that another employee wrested away her gun.
Deborah A. Lennon, 46, contacted Allen Bricker, 45, on Tuesday afternoon in his fourth-floor office in the Center for Community Health building on the Veterans Affairs campus in Vancouver.
She shot him twice in the chest with a handgun, the sheriff’s office said. Another VA employee, Neil Burkhardt, 31, a former Marine, took away the gun, and responding officers took Lennon into custody.
Bricker and Lennon, both of Vancouver, were taken to PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center.
Bricker’s wounds are considered serious. Lennon suffered some injuries to her face and chest in the scuffle. Both remained in the hospital Wednesday. Lennon was under guard, the sheriff’s office said.
Burkhardt, of Portland, was treated for a hand injury he suffered while disarming Lennon and spent the night in a hospital.
Bricker is a Veterans Affairs employee and Lennon had worked out of the Community Health building. The sheriff’s office had no information on a possible motive but said the investigation is ongoing.
Vancouver police, state troopers, Veterans Affairs police and sheriff’s officers all responded and helped clear people from the building. It was processed by crime scene investigators overnight and released Wednesday for normal operations.
It was the second workplace shooting in two days in the southwest Washington city.
On Monday, a paint company driver fatally shot a company manager and then killed himself at a Vancouver business park.
Police found the manager, Ryan E. Momeny, 45, lying dead in front of the Benjamin Moore Paint distribution center. Robert R. Brown, 64, a company driver, was found inside a vehicle in the parking lot, dead from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Vancouver police said.
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