Police: Forest Grove murder-suicide was planned

By Adam Ghassemi KATU News and KATU.com Staff Published: Nov 28, 2009 at 12:40 PM PST Last Updated: Nov 28, 2009 at 3:29 PM PST
Steven England, the man police say killed his wife and her son in Forest Grove before killing himself Friday night.
A photo of Steven England, the man police say killed his wife and her son in Forest Grove before killing himself Friday night. This is a Washington County booking photo from a Jan. 14, 2008, processing on an assault charge also in Forest Grove.

FOREST GROVE, Ore. - Details have emerged in a suspected murder-suicide in Forest Grove.

Police have confirmed that 56-year-old Steven England killed his 52-year-old wife Cindy and shot her adult son, 28-year-old Kevin Coleman Friday evening. They said England then shot himself.

The shooting occurred at a home in the 2500 block of 21st Avenue. It was about three blocks from Pacific University, a private school in the city west of Hillsboro. 

Officers responded about 6:30 p.m. and found the woman shot dead and her son lying injured atop her body, said Captain Aaron Ashbaugh, a Forest Grove police spokesman. The son, who suffered gunshot wounds to his back and shoulder, reportedly called 9-1-1.

Coleman was airlifted to OHSU Hospital in Portland, where he died about 11 p.m. Friday. 

The residence had broken glass and other signs of forced entry. Officers searching the scene found the husband dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound in a large shed in the backyard. 

They recovered a gun thought to be used in the shooting. They believe the family got into an altercation where the man left, and then returned armed with a .357 Magnum. A pickup, believed to be his, was found parked down the street.

No one else is being sought in the case.