Injured Sister Wanted Mother To Live Near Her

Barbara Janosky was supposed to spend the weekend helping her mother settle into a new apartment.

Instead, her mother is watching over Janosky as she lies seriously injured in a hospital bed.

Janosky, 44, who lives in the Valley, is in critical condition at Deaconess Medical Center after being shot by her brother in a dispute over the move Thursday.

Another brother, Bob Ross, of Mountain Home, Idaho, was killed in the shooting. The gunman, Richard Ross, apparently died in a blaze he started in the family home at 801 N. University.

Thursday was supposed to be the beginning of a new relationship between Janosky and her 74-year-old mother, Ruth Ross, neighbors and relatives said.

Janosky, manager of the Sullivan Gables apartments at Fourth and Sullivan, had arranged for her mother, who likes to crochet Afghans for friends and relatives, to move into a first-floor apartment in the complex.

Tenant Betty Helman said Janosky had been talking about the move for some time.

“She wanted to be able to keep an eye on her,” said Helman, who sometimes baby sat for Janosky’s elementary school-aged daughter.

Janosky’s daughter is staying with friends for now.

Helman described the woman as a good mother and apartment manager.

“She’s a hard worker, I’ll tell you,” said Helman. “You couldn’t ask for a nicer person.”

She was extremely nice,” tenant Doug Christenson said of the 1969 graduate of University High School and life-long Valley resident. “We can only hope that maybe this will be one of the lucky ones who makes it.”

Janosky’s brother, Bob Ross, was in town to help Janosky move their mother. The retired member of the Air Force, who was in the process of reconciling with his ex-wife, arrived in town about an hour before he was shot and killed, said Becky Toombs, another sister.

Friends and co-workers described gunman Richard Ross as a courteous man who never caused trouble.

“He was always congenial to the customers and his fellow employees,” said Ed Tabis, general manager of George Gee Pontiac where Ross worked for the past 3-1/2 years as a shuttle driver for the service department. “We never had a problem with him.”

Friend June Skye said Richard Ross liked to ride bicycles on the Centennial Trail with her husband, Dave Skye. The two men also lifted weights and traveled to gun shows in Montana together, she said.

“Dave tried to get through the police lines to talk to him (Thursday),” June Skye said. “I wish he had made it.”

, DataTimes