Woman dead, man shot in head in Eden Prairie hotel room with 2 kids inside, police say

One woman is dead and a man who allegedly shot himself in the head in an Eden Prairie hotel Tuesday is in custody, according to court filings.

Two children — a 2-year-old and 16-month-old — were also in the two-story hotel room with no apparent physical injures, although one child did have blood on their head.

Ryan Charles Rooney, 34, is being charged with felony second-degree murder with intent and endangering a child in a situation that could cause harm or death — a gross misdemeanor.

According to a warrant, Eden Prairie police went to a Residence Inn on Flying Cloud Drive for a welfare check around 11 a.m. after hotel staff called saying they couldn’t wake a person who was supposed to check out Monday after a 20-day stay. Housekeeping had checked on the room thrice but the latch inside the room was shut. They had also deactivated the room’s key cards on Oct. 31 in an effort to get the occupants to go to the front desk.

On Tuesday morning, hotel staff used tools to enter the room and found a child in a crib and Rooney in the fetal position on a bed, a criminal complaint says.

Once police arrived, staff opened the door to the room and the officers announced themselves before entering, and a man "covered in blood" and "clearly in medical distress" then came down from the upper-level bedroom. The room was "extremely cluttered" and smelled like urine, the complaint states. They found another child in a crib; the sheets were "soiled in urine."

Rooney had a gunshot wound to the head, police said. He also had a firearm holster, possible methamphetamine and a folding knife. He told officers that a woman and a gun were upstairs.

In the bedroom upstairs, police found the woman already dead. Her death is being investigated as a homicide. She had a gunshot wound to the chest and was cold to the touch with stiff joints.

Police learned that Rooney and the victim were married on Aug. 30 of this year, according to the complaint.

Child Protective Services was called for the two children and officers provided medical aid to Rooney until he was taken to a hospital where told hospital personnel that he had shot himself Monday, the warrant states.

In the hotel room, police found multiple bags and a tin of narcotics, a black pistol, 9 mm cartridge cases, a magazine and two bullets embedded in the bedroom wall and ceiling. Officers also found multiple cameras, cellphones and a baby monitor in the hotel room and two vehicles in the parking lot registered to the man, all of which were taken into evidence, according to an inventory. There was also a tray of meth on the toilet "that would be easily accessible to a small child," the complaint states.

At the scene, CPS told police that the deceased woman hadn’t shown up for a safety meeting scheduled for the day before so they had come to the hotel for a welfare check, court filings state.

Rooney has three previous domestic assault cases against him, two orders of protection violation cases, and history of narcotics use and terroristic threats, the documents detail. On Oct. 19, police were called to the hotel to investigate the same man waving a gun outside his car.

In an interview with police Thursday, Rooney said, "I don’t know why I shot [victim]."

Rooney was booked into custody at Hennepin County Jail Friday evening and his bail is set at $1 million. His first appearance is Monday.