News

Update:

The Humboldt County Coroner's Office has released the names of those involved in this morning's incident. From the press release, "The deceased male subject in this case has been positively identified as Terry Allan Hayse, age 57 of Rio Dell. The female subject has been positively identified as Annette Kaleialoha Brooks, age 61 of Carlotta."

Gov. Jerry Brown also issued a statement today regarding the death of Brooks, saying,

“The tragic death of this dedicated public servant is a shock to the entire Caltrans family. Anne and I send our deepest sympathies to Annette’s family, friends and her colleagues during this difficult time.”

The flags at the state capital will be flown at half-staff in honor of Brooks.

Previously:

Two people are dead after an apparent murder-suicide at the Caltrans maintenance yard in Rio Dell this morning. According to the local Caltrans public information office, the employees are believed to belong to a paint crew from District 4, which serves several Bay Area counties.

The names of those involved have not been released, but the California Highway Patrol responded to the maintenance yard on Eeloa Avenue at 7:02 a.m. to find one person dead and another in critical condition. The altercation is believed to have taken place between a male employee and his female supervisor over a workplace dispute. The press release states that the man fired "several rounds at the supervisor, killing her, before turning the handgun on himself."

"News of this tragedy shocks and saddens everyone at Caltrans," said Caltrans director Malcolm Dougherty in a statement. "Our thoughts naturally are with the families. The exact details are under investigation and Caltrans is cooperating with law enforcement."

From the California Highway Patrol:

On April 24, 2017 at approx. 0702 hours, Humboldt CHP was notified of a shooting incident with one subject deceased on scene at the Cal-Trans Maintenance Facility in Rio Dell, CA. CHP and Rio Dell PD responded to the scene and found one party deceased and another person in critical condition with a gun shot injury. The injured person was transported to Redwood Memorial Hospital, but later died at the hospital.

At this point, investigators believe that an altercation ensued between a Cal-Trans supervisor and another Cal-Trans employee over a work-related issue. The employee retrieved a handgun and fired several rounds at the supervisor, killing her, before turning the handgun on himself.

The investigation is being handled by Humboldt CHP with the assistance of the the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office, Humboldt County DA’s Office, and Rio Dell PD. The names of the deceased will be released by the Humboldt County Coroner after the notification of next of kin.

Any inquires regarding this incident should be directed to the Humboldt CHP office.