A Kent business owner died Wednesday, two days after he reportedly shot and injured a coworker and then shot himself during a Monday dispute at their office.
Carlos Fernandez, 63, principal owner of Kent Body, Paint and Fabrication, 831 Fifth Ave. S., died Wednesday at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, a hospital spokeswoman said.
Fernandez allegedly shot Mark Owen, 37, a bookkeeper and partial owner of the auto-body shop, in the stomach and wrist before he shot himself in the head, according to Kent Police. Owen is the son of Washington state Lt. Gov. Brad Owen. Fernandez reportedly is a close friend of Brad Owen.
Mark Owen, of Federal Way, was released Tuesday from Harborview.
The incident occurred at about 2:34 p.m. Monday at the body shop, just north of South 259th Street and east of Highway 167.
Detectives were interviewing employees and Owen to try to determine what led to the dispute, said Lisa Price, Kent Police spokeswoman, on Wednesday.
“It was a business dispute,” Price said. “Over what, the investigation will reveal. But we do know it revolved around the business.”
Fernandez reportedly shot Owen in an office. Owen then fled the office to get help before Fernandez shot himself.
Brad Owen and Fernandez were good friends.
“Carlos was a dear, close friend and I will rejoice in my many memories of him,” Brad Owen said in a statement released to the media Wednesday night. “I will cherish forever the good times that we had together. I am still trying to reconcile the series of events that led him to make the choice that he did, and regret that there is not more that I could have done to prevent these tragic circumstances.”
Mark Owen started work at the Kent company a few years ago as a financial advisor, said Brian Dirks, spokesman for Lt. Gov. Brad Owen, in a phone interview Tuesday. Mark Owen later bought minor ownership in the company.
Brad Owen knew his son and Fernandez had problems even before the shooting.
“He (Brad Owen) characterized the relationship as under strain economically and personally,” Dirks said. “As business partners, they had a difficult relationship.”
Dirks said he did not know what Mark Owen and Fernandez were arguing about Monday at the shop.
Fernandez was one of the founders of Kent Body, Paint and Fabrication in 1982, according to the company’s Web site. The company specializes in exterior auto body repair and paint as well as vinyl curtain installation and mobile mechanical repair for recreation vehicles, semi tractors and trailers.
Brad Owen said it has been an extremely difficult week.
“His (Fernandez) family, both in America and in Spain, should know that I am hurting with them, despite what happened at the end,” the lieutenant governor said. “Linda (the wife of Brad Owen) and I are very saddened by his death. I will forever remember Carlos as a fun-loving, good-hearted man and one of the most loyal friends a guy could have. We are very concerned for his wife and family, whom I know he adored by how often he spoke of them whenever we were together.”
Brad Owen plans to speak at a memorial service for Fernandez on Saturday, Dirks said. Details of the time and place of the service are still to be determined.
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