Pierce deputy's motives in killing in-laws remain unclear

The demons that drove a Pierce County sheriff’s deputy to murder and suicide still were unclear Saturday.

Allen Myron, 49, an 11-year veteran of the force and father of four children, killed his wife’s parents late Friday at his home near Gig Harbor, barricaded himself in an upstairs bedroom and fatally shot himself early Saturday as police negotiators pleaded with him to surrender.

His motives were a mystery to one of his children.

“He was a very stand-up person, and the situation surrounding last night was unprecedented and unexpected,” his son Joshua said Saturday. “The man’s hands that killed my grandparents were not the hands of my dad.”

The victims were Monty Multanen, 70, and Susan Multanen, 68. Monty Multanen died at the scene, investigators said. The Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed his identity, as did family members.

Susan Multanen reportedly crawled from the house after being shot and called 911 from woods nearby. She was flown by helicopter to Harborview Medical Center, where she died.

Myron’s 15-year-old daughter and an unidentified male friend were in the basement of the house when the Multanens were shot, Tacoma police said. The teens later emerged unharmed. Myron had ordered them into the basement before shooting the Multanens, police spokeswoman Gretchen Aguirre said. They left the house on their own.

The whys are still unknown, but the results are plain, according to Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor.

“Let’s call this what it is; let’s not beat around the bush. This is a murder,” he said Saturday. “It’s pretty clear that Allen Myron murdered his mother-in-law and father-in-law, and that’s a pretty horrible thing. That’s a pretty lowdown thing.”

Police are still investigating which gun Myron used. Investigators found multiple weapons in multiple locations around the house, Aguirre said.

A SWAT team entered the house at roughly 10 p.m. and discovered Myron’s body about 2 a.m., Aguirre said. That is not unusual in a potential hostage situation, she noted; team members move through a house inch by inch.

Myron’s wife, Sara, was not at the home during the incident. Investigators found her elsewhere, unharmed, Aguirre said Saturday morning. She is a chef, according to website postings. She did not respond to phone messages.

Monty Multanen was the director of career and vocational education for the Oregon Department of Education in the 1980s. He worked for the state until the early 1990s before moving to Washington, according to his son Eric Multanen of Portland. Susan Multanen worked as a nurse when she was younger but stayed home to raise her family.

Eric Multanen, 46, said he is the oldest of four children, and Sara Myron is the second-oldest. He has spoken with his sister, he said Saturday. He didn’t describe the conversation.

He said Sara and Allen Myron had been married a long time, but he didn’t want to talk about the situation.

“I don’t want to talk about anything I’ve heard (from police) yet,” he said. “I want to let them finish whatever they’re doing.”

Investigators found no evidence of domestic violence in Myron’s past, and no record of police reports involving Myron and his wife, sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer said. Research by The News Tribune yielded similar blanks: no signs of court records reflecting domestic violence, no requests for restraining orders.

Myron had been on medical light duty for a year and half before the incident, Troyer said. He was injured on the job in a scuffle with a suspect. He returned to active duty three months ago. He received a Medal of Merit in 2007 and a Life-Saving Medal in 2001 at the Sheriff’s Department annual awards ceremony, according to News Tribune archives.

Family friend Tom Nelson had heard overnight that Allen Myron was holed up in the home, so he hoped he could help. He knew the Myrons for many years when both attended Fox Island Alliance Church. He said that a few years ago he attended a weekly Bible study group at the Myrons’ home.

When Nelson arrived in the neighborhood Saturday afternoon, he was told Allen Myron was dead.

“If he would have let someone come in, it probably would have been me,” said Nelson, 63. “I didn’t know Allen had ended it all.”

“This catches me by surprise,” he said, shaking his head.

Neighbor Karmel Ervin said it was nice having a sheriff’s deputy just down the street.

“He watched out for the neighborhood,” Ervin said.

She said that when her daughter was being harassed a few years ago, Myron stepped in and protected her “as if she was his own daughter.”

Pastor caught an early flight Saturday to return from Washington, D.C., where he had attended a ceremony unveiling new names of fallen officers listed on the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial.

To ensure an independent inquiry, the Sheriff’s Department has handed the criminal investigation to Tacoma police – standard procedure in cases involving law enforcement officers. While the criminal investigation proceeds, the Sheriff’s Department is examining the administrative record: Myron’s employment history and behavior at work.

“I don’t know if we screwed up,” Pastor said. “I know that something terrible happened on the peninsula yesterday, and it involved a sheriff in this department, and that what was done was wrong, and the man responsible is Allen Myron.”

The joint efforts led to some uneasy moments Saturday. Pastor has called for transparency, vowing “we will let everyone know everything when we know it and confirm it.”

Tacoma police have been more subdued, releasing few details of the investigation and deflecting questions about the events that preceded the shootings. Why were the Multanens at Myron’s home? Was there a family dispute that led to the shooting? Police wouldn’t say.

“I know a lot of people are wondering what the heck happened and why the family was there, and I really don’t have any answers for that,” Aguirre said.

Pastor said he wants the public to know as much as possible, but he is duty-bound to let the investigation run its course. “Our approach would probably be to give you a lot more,” Pastor said Saturday. “But if we hand it off to them, we’ve got to hand it off to them. We need to defer to them if I’m asking them to step forward and help.”

The victims are dead, and so is the perpetrator; there will be no charges, no trial for Allen Myron.

Aguirre, asked Saturday why Tacoma police were holding back details, cited best practice. “It’s still a homicide,” she said. “We still have to practice due diligence. We want to be able to say we went, we did the crime scene, we processed the scene, this is what happened, this is how it happened.”

Pastor sent a note to all sheriff’s employees Saturday, giving a general outline of the incident.

“Allen Myron damaged his family, his colleagues,” he said. “He damaged the department. He damaged the entire community. This family has suffered a tremendous loss and we should be thinking of them.”