Dispute between motel manager, tenant in Kings Beach ends in murder-suicide

A long-running dispute between a Kings Beach motel manager and a tenant ended Saturday in a murder-suicide, according to the Placer County Sheriff’s Office.

A preliminary investigation found that the manager of a long-term rental motel, where the shooting occurred, shot and killed a female tenant, then turned the gun on himself, the Sheriff’s Office announced Monday in a Facebook post.

Deputies responded about 4 p.m. Saturday to a report of shots fired in the 8400 block of Trout Avenue. They found a man and woman with fatal gunshot wounds and learned that the shooting followed a dispute.

The manager showed up in the woman’s room and they had a heated exchange of words. The manager then pulled a gun and shot the woman, the Facebook post said.

The woman’s boyfriend was in the room, and a shot was fired at him as he ran to the bathroom window to escape, but he was not hit. A moment later, the manager shot himself, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

The Sheriff’s Office identified the manager as 64-year-old Scott A. Kotter and the tenant as 34-year-old Isabelle C. Gallo.

Although the Sheriff’s Office had received no previous calls regarding disputes between the manager and tenant, the two apparently had a history of arguments, the Facebook post said.

The Sheriff’s Office said the shooting remains under investigation.

This story was originally published November 6, 2017 at 3:59 PM with the headline "Dispute between motel manager, tenant in Kings Beach ends in murder-suicide."