The Sacramento Area Modelers were 15 minutes away from their monthly meeting to discuss upcoming model races, club membership, demonstrations and other things of interest to airplane model enthusiasts when gunfire shattered their quiet Tuesday evening gathering.

Within minutes, Sacramento police arrived to find two club members – and once long-time friends – dead in a murder-suicide detectives believe was fueled by a bitter love triangle.

The focus of that triangle, a 49-year-old woman, escaped the gunfire uninjured.

Relatives, friends and fellow hobbyists were stunned.

"I thought they were friends," said model plane flight instructor Ron Davies, who had known the men for years through mutual involvement in the SAM club.

According to the police account, Robert Gully, 73, of West Sacramento pulled out a handgun and shot Jerome Votaw, 62, of Sacramento during a parking lot argument outside the Sacramento Municipal Utility District building on S Street.

Callers reported the gunfire to police at 7:18 p.m. The club's monthly meeting was scheduled to begin at 7:30.

Gully's estranged wife, who witnessed the shooting, turned and ran as he fired shots at her, shattering the lobby's glass doors, according to Sacramento Police Sgt. Andrew Pettit.

He followed her inside the lobby, as startled club members began pouring out of a rented meeting room. One member attempted to calm Gully, persuading him to walk back out to the parking lot, Pettit said.

As officers pulled up, Gully turned the gun on himself, Pettit said. Both men were pronounced dead at the scene.

On Wednesday, Pettit confirmed that Gully and his wife were separated, and that she was in a relationship with Votaw. He said he did not know when Gully found out about the relationship.

He credited the club member who talked Gully out of the building with doing a "fantastic job" in minimizing the risk to others.

Reached by phone, relatives of the men declined interviews with The Bee. Several members of the SAM club did not return phone calls or emails seeking comment; one member was too distraught to talk to anyone about the night's events, according to a relative.

Late Wednesday, the group released a statement: "The Sacramento Area Modelers have lost a much loved and respected member who was a cornerstone to many of the club activities for many years. We do not wish to further report any other details or contribute to any conjecture about the circumstances leading up to this terrible event."

Davies, a former member of the club's board of trustees, said he was surprised to learn of the incident in an email Tuesday night.

He said the club typically has about 150 dues-paying members, about 50 of whom are active.

Davies, 63, described Gully and Votaw as being "pretty well-respected" enthusiasts who – at least until about a year ago when Davies became less active in the club – were close friends.

According to the state's Bureau of Security and Investigative Services, Gully was a licensed security guard until his license expired last month. Davies said he knew Gully to occasionally work security for a popular hobby store in east Sacramento.

Public records indicate Gully and Votaw, operations manager for an asphalt striping company in Elk Grove, both had hunting and fishing licenses in Alaska.

Both men also were active in the SAM club, according to Davies and recent club newsletters, called "S.A.M.-Antics." Votaw served as club treasurer, and until recently, Gully was vice president.

In the June edition of the newsletter, the club's president credited Gully and his wife for their hard work on the club's raffle. In February's edition, he wished Votaw well after hand surgery.

Davies said both men had been in the club for years and again expressed disbelief about Tuesday's tragedy.

"They were really good people," he said.

The violence between older men is in keeping with a known risk factor for murder-suicide, said Cindy Thygeson, a psychiatrist and medical director of the Sutter Center for Psychiatry.

"It's more common in older people," she said. "The perpetrators are usually older than the victim."

Another common factor among murder-suicides, Thygeson said, is "amorous jealousy."

"In most murder-suicides the perpetrator has depression, unlike homicides," she said. "It's likely he was depressed. It might have been triggered by his lover leaving."

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Call The Bee's Kim Minugh, (916) 321-1038. Follow her on Twitter @Kim_Minugh. The Bee's Anita Creamer contributed to this report.

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