Police Conclude Woman Shot Herself

City police Friday said they have concluded a Washington State University student found with a bullet wound to the head Thursday morning shot herself.

“We don’t have any evidence to lead us to believe that this is not a self-inflicted gunshot wound,” said Detective Ken Bickle.

Shalea Saunders, a 22-year-old WSU senior from Seattle, was found by a passerby with a bullet wound to the head on Valley Road Extension, a dirt road on the back side of College Hill.

Saunders told Pullman police someone else shot her, but later told Spokane County detectives at the Deaconess Medical Center that she shot herself.

She was listed in serious condition at the hospital Friday.

Bickle said several other details suggested she shot herself: the position of the gun and her hand when she was found, the fact that the passenger door of her car was locked, and a witness who reported seeing nobody near the car around the time of the shooting.

The bullet passed through Saunders’ head, entering near one temple and leaving near the other. Doctors have told police she appears to have her motor skills and reflexes but may undergo some sort of change in personality, Bickle said.