Tragic scene in Hayden
<p>Family members console each other after arriving to the scene of a murder-suicide Thursday on Sheridan Avenue in Hayden.</p>
<p>Crime scene tape forms a perimeter around 921 West Sheridan Avenue.</p>
<p>A Northern Lakes Fire District ambulance weaves around Kootenai County Sheriff's Department vehicles while leaving the scene of the shooting.</p>
HAYDEN - Authorities said a Hayden man shot and killed his wife at their home Thursday morning shortly before turning the gun on himself.
Kootenai County Sheriff's Department deputies responded to 921 W. Sheridan Ave. about 11 a.m. after a man called 911 and said he had just shot his wife and was threatening suicide.
"As we were approaching the residence and setting up a perimeter around the house, (deputies) heard a single gunshot," Lt. Stu Miller said at a press conference at the scene.
The shooter was identified late Thursday as Daryl R. Clark, 43, and the victim was Tina M. Clark, 48. Kootenai County Assessor records list Tina Clark as the owner of the home.
Autopsies on both are scheduled for today.
Neighbors said the couple leave behind a young son, who wasn't at home at the time of the incident.
Miller said he didn't know what precipitated the deaths. He said the incident appears to be a murder-suicide.
West Sheridan Avenue is a quiet neighborhood street lined with middle-class homes. It runs east and west a couple blocks south of Wyoming Avenue and west of U.S. 95. Sheridan dead-ends after running about a half block, with the Clarks' home on the north side of the street.
Miller said he didn't have any information indicating law enforcement had been to the house before for any reason.
Upon entering the house, deputies found Tina Clark dead from an apparent gunshot wound.
"What I was told was the wife was shot in the living room-common area," he said.
Daryl Clark was found in a back room, dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, Miller said.
No one else was at the home at the time, he said.
Detectives processed the scene for multiple hours after obtaining a search warrant. Sheridan was closed off by police throughout the day.
Miller said authorities won't release the 911 call recording.