
Berkeley fashion CEO and his wife found shot to death outside their home overlooking UC Berkeley
The CEO of a chic fashion company and his wife were found shot to death Friday morning outside their home in the hills above UC Berkeley.
Berkeley police were called to the scene around 10:48 a.m. Friday after gunshots were heard. Cops found a married couple, Bryan, 61, and Michelle Walker, 63, and took life-saving action. Both were later pronounced dead.
The Walkers ran a women’s fashion company, Bryn Walker. The duo designed clothes with “luxurious fabrics” aimed at “women who demand comfort, quality and simple sophistication,” according to their website. The company had locations in Berkeley and Massachusetts.
Haunting surveillance video reviewed by CBS, too gruesome to air on air, revealed the mysterious circumstances of the shooting. The first gunshot can be heard on video around 10:43 a.m. Friday, then a man is heard crying and screaming in a “very dramatic” scene.
Then a second shot rang out shortly after, “and it was dead silent,” CBS reported.
A neighbor corroborated what was filmed.
“We heard two explosions, not too far from each other, one louder, the other more muffled,” neighbor Alessandro Isolani told CBS. “It’s shocking. I’ve lived here on Panoramic Hill for about 20 years and I’ve never seen any violent crime here.”
Isolani said the couple had been married for a long time and seemed like good members of the community.
“By all neighborhood accounts, (Bryan Walker is) a good guy, a solid member of the community, a long-term marriage.”
Oakland police are leading the investigation, with assistance from the Berkeley Police Department.
Oakland Deputy Police Chief Casey Johnson said investigators have not ruled out a murder-suicide.
“We are not currently looking for anyone at large,” Johnson said. “There is currently no threat to the neighborhood.”
A firearm was found at the scene.
UC Berkeley police sent out a community advisory after the shooting informing students that there was “no known or continuing threat to campus.”
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