Update: Unclear Why Navy Pilot Who Killed Himself Shot Three Others

Update late Wednesday, with a neighbor's reaction.

A Navy pilot who investigators quickly confirmed killed himself in the Jan. 1 shooting in a Park Place condominium was responsible for the deaths of three others, but the reasons why remain murky.

A San Diego County Sheriff's Department homicide unit conducted the investigation, and , but detectives had been hesitant to name as their killer.

That changed Wednesday, when investigators announced they have ended the probe, while releasing results from ballistics and other forensic analyses of the case.

The shooting attracted national attention because it involved two Navy pilots, roommates Reeves and David Reis, and happened in Coronado, where such violent crimes are a rarity.

But the official decision that Reeves was the killer didn't surprise neighbor Don Hubbard, who heard the shots being fired, but attributed the noise to New Year's revels, not an act of violence.

“I thought that conclusion was already drawn simply from the fact that we had a suicide and three murders,” he said.

Investigators found that Reeves, 25, had lain in wait for Karen Reis, 24, and Saturley, 31, in the condo after the group returned from a night of celebrating the New Year at a San Diego club. 

Detectives said Reeves armed himself with a Springfield Armory M1 30-06 caliber rifle and a Taurus PT1911 .45 caliber ACP pistol, and went upstairs. When Karen Reis and Saturley rose to the third floor, he used the rifle to shoot her in the face and chest, and him multiple times in the upper torso.

Their bodies were found near a bedroom door. 

Hearing the gunfire, authorities said, David Reis, 25, who had been speaking with a friend outside, entered his home and made it to the second floor, but Reeves shot him there, using the handgun.

He suffered a fatal wound to the back, along with other wounds to his hand and thigh.

Then Reeves, still armed with the handgun, shot himself, investigators said. They added that other weapons had been collected from the condo, but none had been fired, nor had they been removed from the places where they had been stored.

Finally, despite weeks of looking into the case, detectives said they could “not confirm a clear motive” behind the shootings.

In the initial days of the investigation, Capt. Duncan Fraser said, “It all happened very quickly. There was not much of a time gap between those events.”

Those early statements, combined with the revelation that Reeves had shot himself, led many people like Hubbard to conclude that he was responsible for the killings, despite the delay in pointing to him as the killer.

Friends of Reeves, who hailed from Prince Frederick, MD., noted his quirky and goofy personality. Those who knew him from an online automotive forum he frequented followed the case closely and questioned his experience with women and whether he had feelings for Karen Reis.

A cartoon posted in the forum purported to have been created by Reeves suggested he felt misled about a possible romance by the unnamed sister of a roommate.

Little else is known about Reeves, a lieutenant, other than his status as a F/A- 18 pilot in training at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar with the Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 101. Reis, also a lieutenant, was with the same unit.

David, who deeply enjoyed flying, and Karen, a UCSD grad and volleyball coach, have been .

Parents Tom and Patty Reis, of Bakersfield, described the siblings' devotion to each other two weeks ago and have created “Reis Ripple” bracelets in their honor to remind people that their kind works still can have an effect through those who remember them.

Saturley, a Chula Vista resident and father, was recalled fondly by his pastor, Jeff Mears of City Bible Church in Mission Valley, as a “a quiet person by nature.” .

He was originally from New Hampshire, where his family held his memorial.

Hubbard, a Navy veteran, said people came to his one-way street in January to leave flowers or just gawk, but have long since departed. He added though, that renters have been hesitant to lease the condo where the killings took place.

“I guess some people are just very sensitive to that stuff and freak out,” he said.