Two people died of gunshot wounds early Tuesday morning in what Renton Police are calling a murder-suicide.

Multiple gunshots and noise from an apartment on Union Avenue Northeast were reported in 911 calls at about 1 a.m. Tuesday. One of those calls came from an adult man who had managed to find refuge in a back bedroom with a woman and four children.

Within about a minute, Renton Police officers responded to The Arbors at Sunset apartment complex, 1150 Union Ave. N.E., according to Penny Bartley, a spokeswoman for the Renton Police Department.

Once inside, they found a 26-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman dead of gunshot wounds. Officers brought the children out through the back of the apartment so they wouldn’t see the couple on the floor, according to Bartley.

Three of the children, a 5-year-old boy and two girls, 4 years old and 11 months old, are the children of the de-

ceased couple, who weren’t married but had known each other for about nine years.

The fourth one is the child of the woman who lives in the apartment. The man who made the phone call from inside the apartment is her friend, according to Bartley.

The man was identified on Thursday by the King County Medical Examiner as Richardo Melendez Policiano, 26. He died of a gunshot wound to the head; his death was ruled a homicide.

The woman was identified as Fatima Zavala, 25. She died of multiple gunshot wounds; her death was ruled a homicide, according to the medical examiner.

To get into the apartment, the Melendez Policiano broke a window about the size of a sliding-glass door next to the front door of the ground-level apartment, according to Bartley.

He shot Zavala with a handgun, then turned the gun on himself, according to Bartley.

The investigation is continuing, including interviews with neighbors.

“There is no reason to believe it’s anything other than a murder/suicide,” Bartley said.

This is the third homicide in Renton this year.

A 35-year-old Seattle man, Craig D. Moore, was shot to death Sept. 4 in the parking lot of Touchdowns Sports Bar and Grill; his killer has not yet been found. Stephen Brewer died of multiple gunshot wounds to the head on Feb. 23. Kyle Pinney has been charged with second-degree murder in his death.

Zavala had received a temporary protection order on Oct. 27, which Melendez Policiano violated with a phone call on Oct. 29, according to Bartley. He then failed to appear at a hearing on Nov. 10, when a permanent protection order was issued. That order was served on the man on Saturday, three days before the shooting.

Such orders are issued, Bartley said, where there is a history of violence or a threat of violence.

Zavala had moved out of an apartment in the complex about a month ago that she had shared with the man. She then moved into the apartment where she was shot, according to Bartley.

The dead couple’s three children were brought to the Police Department, then released to relatives, according to Bartley.

Renton Reporter Editor Dean Radford can be reached at dradford@rentonreporter.com or 425-255-3484, ext. 5050.

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