`Like Family' To Some, Scary To Others -- Neighbors Reflect On Man Behind Shooting Spree

LYNNWOOD - Kenneth Baumruk, the Lynnwood man who went on a deadly shooting rampage in a Clayton, Mo., courtroom Tuesday, was an easygoing, helpful neighbor or an embittered woman-hater.

It all depends on whom you talk to.

Residents and former residents of the apartment complex where Baumruk has lived since August were sharply divided yesterday on their impressions of the 53-year-old Boeing Co. employee.

But one thing seemed clear: None of his neighbors knew him well.

Even Lynn View Apartment owner Dan Shermak, who regarded Baumruk "like family," acknowledged he didn't know the details of Baumruk's life.

"I never pried into his personal affairs," Shermak said.

Witnesses said Baumruk was sitting calmly at his divorce hearing near his estranged wife, Mary Louise Baumruk, 46, of Florissant, Mo., and their lawyers when he drew a gun, fatally shot his wife at point-blank range and wounded the attorneys.

Baumruk then fired wildly at the judge and others and ran into a hall, where he wounded a bailiff and a security guard before being gunned down several minutes later, witnesses said. He remained in critical condition this morning.

The Baumruks separated in September 1990 after 15 years of marriage. Baumruk moved to Lynnwood last year after being laid off by McDonnell Douglas Corp. in St. Louis. He was hired last August as a tool and production planner with Boeing's Commercial Airplane Group in Renton.

The shooting stunned some apartment tenants, who described Baumruk as a friendly neighbor who often visited with other tenants and always had a cup of coffee in his hand.

"I was in shock," said Randy Flood. "It was a kind of devastation.

"I was always working on my car, and he'd come down and talk to me. "He told me he was heading back to Missouri to finalize his divorce. I thought I'd be seeing him (when he came back)."

"He was like an uncle to me," said Annette Pachkofsky, who manages the two-building apartment complex at 5821/5823 200th St. S.W. "He'd come over here with his cup of coffee and talk. . . . He was a model tenant."

Pachkofsky and Shermak both said Baumruk volunteered to help upgrade the 66-unit complex.

Several tenants said Baumruk occasionally discussed his pending divorce.

"One day, he was sitting outside, and he had mentioned he was really hurt," said Sherry O'Dell. "He said, `I don't want (the divorce), but I have to let (the marriage) go."

Still, Baumruk had talked of buying a house in the area and planting a vegetable garden when he got through the divorce, tenants said.

"He said he'd be glad when (the divorce settlement) was over," Pachkofsky said.

Not all those who met Baumruk at the apartment complex were surprised by the shooting.

For Christina Elkins, the news validated her own theories about the man.

"He made the hair on the back of my neck stand up," she said. "On the one hand, he appeared like a nice gentlemen - but people who really had any dealings with the man knew differently."

Elkins and another woman, Ronda Hughes, said they moved out of the apartment complex last month, partly because they were scared of Baumruk.

They and several others said Baumruk was "inseparable" from Shermak and the two were always discussing tenants and spying on them.

"They were together all the time," said Elkins. "Sometimes I'd come home at 1 a.m. and I'd see them on the roof . . . it was like you couldn't move without them right there."

Other times, Elkins said, she would return home late to find Baumruk lurking in the stairwell or the hall.

She got scared, she said, when the two men said they owned guns and would use them to clean up apartment "riffraff" if necessary.

Several tenants said Baumruk was bitter over his pending divorce and seemed to hate women.

"He would say things like `Women are no good,' and `Occasionally you can get a good woman who will cook for you,' " said Hughes. "I didn't like being around him."

Robbyn Spensley said she also moved out of the complex recently because she feared the two men. "There were 20 of us that moved out at once," she said. "We were scared for our safety."

Shermak dismissed the critical reports as "garbage," and Pachkofsky said some of the people who moved out recently were "problem tenants."

Lynnwood police searched Baumruk's apartment unit yesterday at the request of Missouri officials and found two empty revolver boxes but no suicide or goodbye note, said Sgt. Steve Norman.

-- Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.