WSU Student Found Shot In The Head

Authorities are trying to determine if a Washington State University student shot herself in the head or was attacked by someone else.

Shalea Saunders, 22, of Seattle, was found in a car with a bullet wound to her head Thursday morning. She was listed in satisfactory condition late Thursday at Deaconess Medical Center.

The senior majoring in hotel and restaurant administration was flown by helicopter to Deaconess after a passerby found her in a car at 7:40 a.m. on Valley Road Extension, a rarely used dirt road on the back side of College Hill.

Saunders’ father told Pullman police Sgt. Chris Tennant that she was going in and out of consciousness but could move her legs and squeeze her hands.

Saunders told investigators someone else shot her, but she also said she shot herself, Tennant said.

“She’s giving answers and they may or may not have been related to the questions,” he said.

Tennant said he is leaning toward calling the shooting a suicide attempt, but was holding off on a final determination until he could obtain a search warrant and comb through the car Thursday evening.

Police found a .25-caliber automatic handgun beside Saunders in the Toyota Tercel. Tennant refused to say to whom the gun was registered.

He said one bullet passed through Saunders’ head, entering near one temple and leaving near the other.