A King City man who died in a Christmas Day shootout with police after wounding an Oregon State Trooper had earlier shot his estranged wife eight times outside his parents’ home, then contacted her sister, friend and his mom to say he killed her, the Washington County District Attorney’s Office said Tuesday.
James Tylka called his mother moments after opening fire on his wife of two years and driving away.
“I shot her, mom,” he said according to a District Attorney’s Office memo reviewing Katelynn Armand-Tylka’s death.
“She screwed up my life,” said Tylka, 30, according to the memo. “My whole life’s been screwed up, and I shot her and I’m gonna kill myself.”
Tylka bought the 9mm handgun he used to kill Armand-Tylka, 24, from a private seller in Portland on Christmas Eve, the memo said. He also bought ear plugs and gun ammo from a sporting goods store in the area the same day.
Investigators found a completed but unfiled petition for a restraining order against Tylka in his wife’s car, the memo said. There was also an anniversary card from Tylka to his wife with a handwritten note that said, “I am sorry for what I am about to do,” the memo said.
What caused Tylka to shoot his wife and later open fire on police is unclear from the memo. The couple married in December 2014 and had been separated for a year and a half. They had an 11-month-old daughter and didn’t get a divorce for the sake of their child.
Friends and family told authorities the Tylkas had a “tumultuous relationship” with a history of domestic violence. In the weeks before the shooting, Tylka sent his wife hundreds of text messages threatening to kill her and begging her to take him back, the DA’s memo said.
A District Attorney’s Office review of the police shooting of Tylka is still underway, said Bracken McKey, a Washington County senior deputy district attorney. Authorities have not said how many times the police officers fired or how many times Tylka was hit.
The injured trooper, Nic Cederberg, 32, was shot several times and was released from OHSU Hospital last week, his family said.
Cederberg, an Army veteran and seven-year police veteran, was one of six officers who fired at Tylka in December, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office said. The other five — Hillsboro Officer Anthony Cristofaro, Tualatin Officer Eli Sanders, and Sherwood Officers Stan Smith, Joe Twigg and Chris Pierce — were placed on paid administrative leave after the shooting.
Friends of Armand-Tylka told The Oregonian/OregonLive days after the shooting that Tylka lived with his mother and stepfather in King City and Armand-Tylka lived with their daughter in Beaverton.
According to the memo, Armand-Tylka pulled up to Tylka’s parents’ house in the 11900 block of Southwest King James Place about 10:10 p.m. on Christmas to drop their daughter off before going to work. Tylka retrieved the girl from the car, placed her in the home entry way, walked back to the car, and shot his wife six times in the chest and twice in the head.
Tylka’s mother went outside after hearing the gunshots and saw her son in his car with the engine running, the memo said. Tylka sped away after she tapped on the car window to get his attention. He called her after.
Tylka called one of his wife’s friends at 10:20 p.m. to say he shot Armand-Tylka, the memo said. At 10:48 p.m., he texted his wife’s sibling, “I just killed your sister.”
Tylka drove off and then shot Cederberg when police and deputies chased him to a road south of Sherwood.
— Everton Bailey Jr.
ebailey@oregonian.com
503-221-8343; @EvertonBailey
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