Two dead in Eureka shooting

A 19-year-old man and a 16-year-old girl died early Saturday from a single gunshot fired by the man at a Eureka-area residence.

According to information released by the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office, Jacob Lee, 19, of Eureka, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound from a .41 Magnum handgun. The bullet passed through Lee and struck 16-year-old Lorena Mocko of Fernie, B.C.

Officers who responded to a report of the shooting at the residence along Tobacco Road south of Eureka around 1 a.m. found that Lee had died at the scene while Mocko had been transported by bystanders and died on the way to medical assistance.

Autopsies were performed at the state crime lab in Missoula on Monday. The state medical examiner is ruling Lee's death a suicide, "because we can't tell what was going through his head when he pulled the trigger," said Detective Darren Short of the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office. "It's definitely self-inflicted."

The incident remains under investigation, and no charges have been filed.

According to a published obituary, Lee was born in Whitefish and grew up and attended school in Eureka. He is survived by his mother Sheri Lee of Eureka and his father Randall Lee of Sacramento, Calif., grandparents William McClure and Jacqueline Hoenstein, both of Eureka, and eight brothers and sisters.