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Real estate agent finds dead body during showing

Washington police are still investigating

(Photo Illustration by The Real Deal with Getty Images)
(Photo Illustration by The Real Deal with Getty Images)

Police in Washington say a real estate agent discovered a dead body last weekend while showing a home to prospective buyers.

The Clark County Sheriff’s Office responded to the call from a rural property in the suburban city of Camas just Northeast of Portland, Oregon, according to The Olympian.

Responding officers found the body with an apparent gunshot wound and called the Major Crimes Unit for a homicide investigation. Officers interviewed neighbors and identified a “possible person of interest”, The Olympian reported.

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The following day detectives discovered the person of interest had died in Oregon from “what investigators believe was a self-inflicted gunshot wound,” according to a press release cited by The Olympian.

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Police said the investigation is ongoing with help from police in Oregon.

While real estate agents aren’t often the victims of crimes, a member survey conducted by the National Association of Realtors found that 84 percent of respondents felt unsafe on the job, or feared for the safety of their personal information, last year, up 12 percent from the year prior.

Agents and brokers reported most commonly feeling unsafe at showings, with 41 percent of respondents reporting an incident last year. Client meetings in secluded locations and open houses were other common settings for creepy run-ins, respondents said.

Zooming out, real estate professionals in suburban areas were among the most likely to have feared for their safety on the job, with 23 percent of women and 13 percent of men reporting a frightening experience.

Despite those incidents, very few agents and brokers have been victims of crimes: 95 percent of male professionals and 96 percent of females said they’ve never been victimized. Identity theft was the most commonly reported crime, having affected 2 percent of males and 1 percent of females. Fewer than one percent of male and female respondents reported being assaulted or robbed on the job last year.