Bombing Suspect Kills Himself, 17 Years After Father's Suicide

ASTORIA, Ore. - The suicide of a man suspected in bombings at two crowded coffee shops was eerily reminiscent of his father's death 17 years ago after a shooting spree in a courtroom.

Michael McClain, 42, shot himself in the head moments after a bomb went off in the Pig N'Pancake restaurant around 11 a.m. yesterday.

In February 1979, Ernest E. McClain had pulled out a gun during a hearing in a Portland courtroom, wounding his estranged wife and killing her attorney. He then shot himself in the head.

Yesterday, the first bomb went off in a hallway at the Dutch Cup restaurant, about a quarter mile from the Pig N'Pancake, at 10:59 a.m.

The second bomb exploded three or four minutes later.

Frank Hazelton of Astoria told The Oregonian he was sipping coffee and reading the newspaper when he heard the blast. He turned toward the sound and saw a man with salt-and-pepper hair standing in the middle of the room.

"He pulled a small-caliber handgun and pointed it at his forehead and shot himself," Hazelton said.

"Everybody was yelling, `down, down, down.' "

Hazelton said he and other customers crawled behind a counter and then out a side door.

Shards of glass sent one customer to Columbia Memorial Hospital where he was treated and released, police said, and one man was blown several yards across the restaurant.