EUGENE, Ore. (KMTR) -- The Lane County Sheriff’s Office has released the names of two people killed after a shooting on
Howard Avenue, in north
Eugene over the weekend.
30 year-old Valerie R. Rhodes and 30 year-old Christopher Schroeder died of gunshot wounds on Saturday, February 19th, 2011. The Lane County Sheriff’s Office says the victims were in a romantic relationship.
Investigators recovered a weapon on the scene and believe no one else was involved in the incident.
The shooting happened at 9:49 p.m. Saturday, at a home on the 300 block of Howard Avenue, off River Road in north Eugene.
Lane County emergency dispatchers received a 911 call with no one on the other end responding.
When help arrived, deputies say they found both Rhodes and Schroeder with gunshot wounds. Schroeder was pronounced dead at the scene. Rhodes was rushed to RiverBend Hospital in Springfield, but was pronounced dead a short time later.
Investigators are now trying to determine the events that lead up to the shooting and the couple’s history.
“We want to make sure that folks (neighbors) know that we don't have any reason to believe that this is anything other than something between these two folks,” says Captain Bill Thompson of the Lane County Sheriff’s Office.
“So there's no suspect out there we're trying to find, there's nothing in play here, as tragic as this incident is, we believe it is contained just to this couple,” says Cpt. Thompson.
On Sunday, neighbors told KMTR NewsSource 16 that Rhodes was a mother, but her child was out of the house when the incident happened. One neighbor remembered Rhodes as a “happy, wonderful person.” Sunday afternoon, a small memorial of flowers was left in the front of the victim’s house.
A medical examiner will perform autopsies on the victims on Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011, to determine an official cause of death. From there, investigators may release more information about the circumstances behind the shooting.
