By Sean Webby, Mark Gomez and Lisa Fernandez
San Jose Mercury News
SAN JOSE, Calif. — A San Jose police sergeant and his wife were found dead in their Gilroy home overnight in what appears to be a murder-suicide, according to police and multiple sources.
Gilroy police Capt. Jim Gillio confirmed the news about 10 a.m. Monday. In a statement, he said that Gilroy police first went to the home of Christopher Shimek, 51, at 9:39 p.m. Sunday “after family and friends could not get ahold of anyone at the residence.”
Police discovered Shimek, a sergeant who has been with San Jose police since 1995, with an “apparent self-inflicted” gunshot wound. Gillio also said a 43-year-old woman was found dead inside the home, in the 9400 block of Rodeo Drive.
Sources identified the woman as Shimek’s wife, Lynn. Sources said investigators are looking into the possibility she was strangled. The couple lived with their two boys, ages 13 and 19, sources said, who were not injured.
Tammy Drews, a friend of Lynn Shimek’s, told this newspaper that she was the one who called 911.
Drews said she was “hanging out” with Lynn Shimek on Sunday “having a few beers,” and then she dropped her off home at 8:15 p.m. Soon afterward, she got a text. “Get Lynn out of there,” the text read. Drews went back at 9:15 p.m. and tried knocking on the door. There was no answer. It was locked. The family’s dog was sitting there. That’s when she called for help.
Her friend told Drews that “Chris had been acting odd all day,” and that she just had a “feeling” something was wrong.
Drews added: “Chris was obsessed with her and very possessive of her. She was the kindest, most generous person. She was my best friend.’'
In an interview, Gillio refused to comment on whether there had been any prior domestic violence calls to the home, or where the bodies were found. He also refused to say who had found the couple first, citing “an active investigation. ".
The San Jose Police Department was in shock over the murder-suicide, with officials emphasizing there was no indication of any domestic violence involving Shimek.
“There were no red flags,” Dwyer said. " He was not by any means a ticking bomb.”
Shimek, who served in the traffic division, was well liked within the department and was described as even-keeled. He had been a member of the force for 16 years, winning a promotion to sergeant two years ago.
At the Shimek’s Monday, some people had already placed candles in front of the well-kept two-story home. There was no visible signs of police tape or any other type of active investigation.
Devon Shimek, Christopher Shimek’s father, reached by phone in Oregon on Monday morning, didn’t have much to say.
“I heard he’s dead,” the elder Shimek said. “I didn’t know he had any troubles. I don’t know what happened.”
Shimek said he had never known his son to be violent toward his wife.
He said he was alerted to what happened by his daughter, and declined to discuss any more “family matters.”
Neighbor David Guillen, who lives about five houses away, spotted police tape when he was coming home from work about 1:30 a.m. Monday. He didn’t know what it was for until his wife started screaming later Monday morning. Someone had posted on Facebook that the couple was dead.
“She kept saying she just had her nails done with Lynn, and she was such a sweetheart,” Guillen recalled his wife saying.
The Shimeks didn’t appear to ever fight or be unhappy, Guillen said, at any of the neighborhood parties. He would often see Shimek walking his German shepherd outside, and learned recently that the sergeant was working nights and had sold his big motorboat.
“I knew he was a police officer, but he didn’t talk about it much,” Guillen said. “I never saw anything unusual. But who knows?”
Delores Pickford has been friends with Lynn Shimek for 12 years; they bonded over “kid things and Mom things.”
She said Lynn Shimek had recently joined the South County Derby Girls, and was an avid player of Bunco, a popular parlor dice game. When Pickford first met Lynn Shimek, she was a Creative Memories consultant, selling scrap booking materials. Then, she went on to sell BeautiControl products, and did so well, Pickford said, that she won a car. Recently, Pickford said Lynn Shimek had a facepainting business and had several gigs painting faces at the San Jose Sharks games, and also for cruise ships, where she was able to take her family.
Christopher Shimek’s Facebook page shows him as a faithful San Francisco 49ers fan and a supporter of Law Enforcement Today, Emma’s Children, as well as Station 55, Goosetown Lounge and the Milias Restaurant, all eateries and bars in Gilroy.
Copyright 2011 San Jose Mercury News