A 34-year-old Hillsboro man is suspected of fatally shooting a 12-year-old boy and then himself in a murder-suicide inside a Damascus home Wednesday night, Clackamas County sheriff’s officials said Thursday.
Investigators believe Rickoshay Allen Kerr violated a restraining order against him out of Washington County when he rammed through a closed gate in front of a house on Southeast Delia Street shortly before 6 p.m.
Kerr then crashed his car into the garage and entered the home, where investigators believe he fired at the boy and then turned the gun on himself, sheriff’s officials said in a statement. He also killed two dogs in the home, they said.
Sheriff’s officials have not released the boy’s name or said if he is related to Kerr.
Multiple neighbors called 911 about 5:55 p.m. to report seeing a man in the area with a gun. Deputies arrived at the Delia Street home within minutes, according to the sheriff’s office.
As they walked toward the home, they fired on a car speeding past them toward the house and shot out two of its tires, sheriff’s officials said. The driver was later identified as a concerned family member. No one was hurt, they said.
Deputies entered the house where they found Kerr and the 12-year-old boy dead from gunshot wounds. No one else was inside the home, sheriff’s officials said.
Kerr’s ex-wife lives on Delia Street and filed for divorce from Kerr in April due to “irreconcilable differences.” Sheriff’s officials did not say whether the home they responded to belonged to Kerr’s ex-wife. The two were married in August 2019 and she requested sole custody of their 2-year-old child, according to court records.
Another woman filed for divorce from Kerr in November 2018, six months after they got married in Lincoln County. They share a child, who was also 2 years old at the time of their divorce filing, court records show.
Kerr pleaded guilty in May 2016 to failing to report as a sex offender. He was convicted and sentenced to two years probation. Court records do not indicate what the crime was.
The sheriff’s office, the Clackamas County Interagency Major Crimes Team and the county district attorney’s office are investigating the killings.
— Catalina Gaitán, cgaitan@oregonian.com, @catalingaitan_
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