Paul de Renne staked out the Boise slayings of his brother and an associate as carefully as a mining claim, police say.
Before going to a Thursday morning meeting where he methodically killed two people and then himself, the longtime prospector wrote a will and $1,000 personal check for cleaning up the mess from the shootings.The brothers had been feuding for months over the ownership of a mining claim in the Salmon National Forest.
The miner strode into M&M Court Reporting Service in downtown Boise carrying a briefcase. Inside was a loaded semiautomatic Colt .45 handgun wrapped in an oil-soaked rag. The pockets of his brown corduroy coat were weighted with three more clips of ammunition. He had 28 bullets.
In a front pocket, de Renne had a typewritten note saying the people he planned to shoot "bought their bullets."
He wasted no time.
Shortly after all six people sat down to resolve the dispute, de Renne popped open his briefcase and pulled out the gun.
At the table were his brother, Don de Renne, Patrick Latta, stenographer Angie Coder and attorneys Patrick Miller and Bill Collins.
De Renne fired a shot point blank at his brother. Witnesses said there was no argument before he pulled the gun.
"The first round going off was a surprise," Lt. Tim Rosenvall said.
At the sound of the gun, three people in the outer office ran outside the building.
Detectives believe this is what happened next:
De Renne systematically went after his other victims.
He next shot Miller in the arm. Miller fell under the table. Coder, sitting at the opposite end of the table, dived underneath to hide.
Then de Renne moved around the table and fired several bullets into Latta, Don de Renne's business partner.
Paul de Renne briefly stopped the slaughter and ordered his attorney, Bill Collins, to leave.
Miller took the moment to escape and was tackled by de Renne. They wrestled for the gun. The attorney managed to partially grab the weapon and pull the trigger. The clip was empty. Miller let go and ran out of the building.
Coder had fled during the struggle.
De Renne popped out the empty clip and inserted a new one. He walked into the meeting room and fired seven more bullets into his brother and Latta, emptying the second magazine.
He inserted a third clip and fired two more rounds into his brother.
Then the 47-year-old miner, who had no wife, children or surviving family, sat down in the chair and fired a final shot into his temple.
There were four bullets left in the gun and an unused clip in his coat pocket.
The entire killing spree lasted under two minutes.
The will left with Collins was signed by de Renne on Wednesday. De Renne's possessions included a silver pickup with a motorcycle in back that he parked downtown.
Police said Collins was unaware of de Renne's plans or what the personal check was for.
In the note de Renne left behind, he rambled about his victims and ended by saying "I don't need this world any longer."
The undated $1,000 check made out to Collins had a simple note in the memo section: "For cleanup."