Tragedy struck the Cook family twice in four months.
Timothy Neal Cook, 36, died in a hunting incident Sunday near Chelan about 3¬½ months after his brother, Tedy William Cook, 33, died in a motorcycle wreck on Carlsborg Road.
“It’s going to be pretty Goddamn tough” for their parents, said Bill Cook, the brothers’ grandfather.
“I’m having a pretty tough time with it, too.”
Bill Cook, 78, of Raymond said on Tuesday that he wasn’t aware of plans for a memorial service for Timothy Cook.
The brothers’ parents, Rick and Kristy Cook of Raymond, were visiting family in Sequim on Tuesday, Bill Cook said.
The two men were their only children, according to an obituary published July 6 after Tedy Cook’s death.
Timothy Cook, who lived with his wife and daughter in Port Angeles, worked at Thomas Building Center in Sequim, Bill Cook said.
Tedy Cook lived in Sequim and worked for Primo Construction as a concrete finisher.
Motorcycle crash
He crashed his 1994 Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle into a Toyota Corolla Matrix at speeds of near 100 mph at about 9 p.m. June 30, the Clallam County Sheriff’s Department said.
The car was traveling the speed limit of 35 mph, said Sgt.John Keegan.
The driver of the car, who was not identified, was “pretty shook up,” he said.
No citations were issued, and the initial cause of the wreck “appears to be speed,” Undersheriff Ron Peregrin said in June.
Unloading rifle
Chelan County Coroner Wayne Harris said Timothy Cook was killed instantly when one of his two deer-hunting companions discharged his rifle while unloading it and shot him on Bear Mountain Ranch Road, about 7 miles west of Chelan.
The other two hunters are Anthony Cook, Timothy Cook’s cousin, and Neil Melillo, both of Lynnwood, said Jeff Middleton, chief criminal deputy for the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office.
Middleton would not say who had fired the gun.
“There’s nothing that indicates it’s anything other than an accident,” he added.
Middleton said that the .270-caliber round — discharged from a bolt-action rifle about 20 yards away — passed through a metal property gate and pierced the rear window of the truck in which Timothy Cook was seated.
A bullet fragment hit him in the neck, Middleton said.
“It fragmented, so it peppered the back of the truck in several places,” he said.
Middleton said the men were returning from hunting and were approaching the truck when the gun went off.
“That is a common hunting method, where someone is dropped off and hunt up to the truck,” Middleton said.
Middleton said the truck was backed up about 2 feet in front of the gate, with the rear of the truck facing it.
Middleton said U.S. Fish and Wildlife detectives are investigating the incident.
No drugs or alcohol are believed to have been involved, he said.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or tom.callis@ peninsuladailynews.com.
Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or paige. dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com
