OGDEN — Police are questioning a man after the shooting death of a member of a prominent Utah family in his home here Monday night.
Robert Warner McKay, 50, was found barely alive in his home about 10:30 p.m. by police who were responding to reports of a possible shooting. One neighbor said McKay was shot at least three times.
McKay was rushed to McKay-Dee Hospital, where Ogden Police Lt. Scott Sangberg said he was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.
Police initially received a 911 call from inside McKay's house, 2934 Polk. McKay's only brother, Don McKay, said Robert apparently used his cell phone right after he was shot to call for help. When officers arrived they found him unconscious on the floor near the doorway.
Investigators detained Brodie Larry Spell, 21, about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday in Brigham City. Spell is currently on probation for a weapons violation and had two no-bail warrants out for his arrest for violating that probation. He walked away from a halfway house, the Northern Utah Community Center, Oct. 28.
Sangberg said Spell was wanted only for questioning and was not being called a suspect Tuesday afternoon.
"We believe he is one of the people to see (McKay) last," Sangberg said.
The car Spell was driving was seen in McKay's driveway Monday night. "We know he was there," Sangberg said.
A motive for the shooting was unknown Tuesday. Investigators planned to search McKay's house Tuesday afternoon to determine if anything was taken, but Sangberg said it looked initially like nothing was missing.
McKay was a distant relative of David O. McKay, a president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints from 1951 until his death in 1970. His grandfather was President McKay's cousin.
Tuesday, friends and family tried to console each other upon hearing the news.
"We can't imagine this happening. It doesn't seem right. It doesn't seem realistic," said Don McKay. "He was just so neat. A special person. We'll miss him. There are a lot of people who will miss him."
The McKay brothers ran McKay Travel, where Robert McKay was a manager and part owner. Nearly all of the employees at the family-run business are related.
"He was a loyal friend. Very sincere. Bob was a hard worker. He was someone you could trust," said Ann Holmes, an employee at McKay Travel whose daughter is married to McKay's nephew.
Only three people were working Tuesday at the business while the rest of the family stayed home to comfort other family members.
McKay went to work at McKay Travel after living and working in Hawaii. He graduated from BYU-Hawaii, Holmes said.
McKay's wife works in Washington, D.C., and was not home at the time of the shooting. She planned to retire in three years and then move back to Utah to be with her husband full time, Don McKay said. The couple had no children of their own, but McKay said his brother was like a second father to his 10 children.
"He was a people person. He was always positive. If something was a negative he tried to make it a positive," Don McKay said in tears.
But McKay also believes it was his brother's kindness that got him in trouble. Robert McKay would often do what he could to help others, even strangers, including giving them money.
Sangberg did not know Tuesday the relationship between Spell and McKay.
Spell is about 5-foot-11 and 165 pounds with brown hair and eyes. He has a goatee and mustache. He was last seen driving a 1992 tan Ford Taurus with license plate number 652 MCX.
Spell has previous convictions for possession of a firearm by a restricted person, attempted riot and other weapons violations. He was convicted on the possession of a firearms charge, a third-degree felony, Jan. 15, 2003.
After receiving a diagnostic evaluation at the Utah State Prison, he was transferred to the Weber County Jail and then the halfway house July 1, 2003.
A funeral for McKay will probably be Monday or Tuesday, Don McKay said.
E-mail: preavy@desnews.com