By CHERY SABOL

The Daily Inter Lake

An 85-year-old Kalispell man reportedly shot and killed his 53-year-old son Wednesday morning and then killed himself at his home on Liberty Street.

Kalispell Police Department's Major Case Unit is investigating the deaths of Richard Borgmann Sr. and Richard Borgmann Jr.

Police Chief Frank Garner said the younger man, of Helena, went to the home of his father to talk to him about some problems the elder man was having and to ask him to move back to Helena. The elderly man reportedly had been giving away money.

A neighbor told police that she heard three gunshots and looked out her window at about 11 a.m. The younger man appeared to have been shot three times, possibly as he was going out the front door of the home, according to Flathead County sheriff's Deputy Coroner Ernie Freebury. The police investigation supports that.

The neighbor said she looked out her window and saw the father come out of the home, sit down, put the gun to his head and kill himself, Garner said.

"It sounded like fireworks," said Jessica McDougall, another neighbor who lives across the street. "It was pops."

The tragedy attracted people in the densely populated neighborhood as police processed the crime scene. Investigators looked nervously at the overcast sky, hoping it wouldn't rain and disturb the evidence that lay in plain view from the street.

"It's scary. It was right outside," said neighbor Jamie Fleming.

Leah Fredenberg shielded her children from the crime scene. She was just driving up when police arrived and leapt from their cars, she said.

It is a safe neighborhood, full of families, said Codi Roberts. "I thought so until today."

Garner said police have no criminal history on the father. He was suffering from some mental problems, Garner said.

The last murder in Kalispell was in June 2003, when a man in his 70s shot and killed a friend in his 50s and then killed himself.