VANCOUVER, Wash. (KOIN 6) — Deborah Lennon, who shot her former co-worker at the Veteran Affairs office in Vancouver, was sentenced to prison Friday.
She pleaded guilty in February and was sentenced to 270 months (22.5 years) in prison for shooting Allen Bricker twice in the chest with a handgun.
On Feb. 4, 2014, Lennon walked into the Center for Community Health, confronted Bricker in his fourth floor office. Bricker, 45 at the time of the shooting, was seriously wounded.
A second employee, Neil Burkhardt, confronted Lennon and wrestled away the gun from her, the sheriff’s office said. Both were injured in the scuffle.
She formerly worked at the VA office in Vancouver.
Lennon tried to get Bricker, 45, to leave his wife. Court documents obtained by KOIN 6 News revealed Bricker filed a restraining order against Lennon in January 2013, and a number of emails were included in that restraining order.
Bricker said Lennon was stalking him. There is no evidence to suggest Bricker and Lennon actually had a relationship.The sentencing
Standing just feet from Lennon, Bricker said in court, “I did nothing to deserve this. There is no sensational back story. I barely knew this person. There was no association outside of work. … She told me in her emails she’d make my wife a widow and my kids orphans. She mentioned my kids by name. Her behavior is (inaudible). You could tell by her emails, she was enjoying herself. She knew I was married. She knew I had a family. And she didn’t care.”
Megan Crowley, the public affairs officer for the VA, said Bricker was sitting in her office the day of the shooting.
“He had had a really wonderful day that day,” she said. “He told me the only thing that would make his life better is if this woman would stop and leave him alone.”
Crowley and Bricker are co-workers and friends, and she said she is ready to see justice served for him and his family.
“It’s been a long year for all of us, most especially Allen and his family,” Crowley said.
She said several safety measures were put into place following the shooting.
“A very secure lockdown system,” Crowley said. “All of our doors are locked and you need to have a key to be an employee. You also need a badge, and visitors are required to use a telephone that we’ve set up outside.”
Many of his co-workers went to Lennon’s sentencing to show support for Bricker. Crowley said she hopes the sentencing brings both closure and justice for Bricker.
“I would like to see the maximum possible sentence delivered.”