A shooting in central Oregon that left a Bend woman and her daughter dead, and seriously injured her 2-year-old boy, was a murder-suicide, police said.

Julie Angela Still, 39, shot and killed her 5-year-old daughter, wounded her son, and then turned a .22-caliber pistol on herself at their home last December, according to a Bend police report released Monday.

Her husband, Charles Still, discovered the shooting when he returned from work. Police and medics arrived shortly thereafter, but Julie Still and her daughter had already died of their wounds.

The boy was taken by ambulance to St. Charles Bend and later flown to Oregon Health & Science University. He has recovered from his injuries, according to police.
It took several months to finish the investigation because the Bend Police Department was waiting for test results, Lt. Ben Gregory said Monday.

Police received the state medical examiner's report April 11, and the Oregon State Police crime lab confirmed the .22-caliber pistol found at the family's home was the weapon Julie Still used to shoot herself and the two children, according to the report.

Police also looked at journal entries that Julie Still wrote, which revealed her state of mind at the time of the shooting.

"It's part of the evidence that we had that gives insight into coming to this conclusion," Gregory told The Bulletin newspaper in Bend.

Julie Still did not write about any plans for the shooting, Gregory said. He declined to go into further detail about the journal.

Charles Still and Julie Gordon were married in June 2001, and Julie lived in Bend for most of her life. Neighbors said in December that Julie was a stay-at-home mom.

Police will turn the findings over to the Deschutes County District Attorney's Office for review, which is routine following suspicious death investigations.

But Gregory noted police normally do not release the findings until after the district attorney has reviewed them.

"We chose to do this one so that we could bring closure to the father," Gregory said.