Charges: 2 young children were inside Eden Prairie hotel room where woman was killed

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (FOX 9) - Police encountered two young children inside the same hotel room where a man is accused of shooting and killing his wife in Eden Prairie, Minnesota this week.

Ryan Charles Rooney, age 34, is charged with murder and child endangerment in the case.

Police responded on the morning of Tuesday, November 2 to the Residence Inn off Flying Cloud Drive for a welfare check. At the hotel, officers learned that the occupants of Room 524 had stayed at the hotel for 20 days and were due to check out on October 31. Since that date, the cleaning staff had attempted to enter the room three times, but the security latch had been closed.

The hotel staff deactivated the cards for the two-story room and called the room several times, but no one answered.

On November 2, hotel crews used tools to undo the security latch and get into the room. Once inside, they found a man in the fetal position on the bed. They also saw a small child in a crib. Unable to wake the man up, staff called the police to help out.

In the charges, when police showed up, the man was conscious and walked down from the room's second level with a small child. Police say the man had a gunshot wound to his head.

In the lower level, police found another child in the crib. Officers say the children are ages 1 and 2.

The charges state police found two baggies with what they believe was meth inside and a gun holster on the man, who was identified as Rooney. When asked where the gun was, Rooney told police it was upstairs.

When police walked up to the second level, they found the gun and the body of a woman on the floor at the foot of the bed. Police said the woman had been shot in the chest. Police said she was cold to the touch and her joints felt stiff. It's unclear exactly how long she had been dead.

In the charges, police say they learned the suspect and victim had been married on August 30. They were also able to determine an anonymous phone call was made on the victim's phone, calling 911 to report a man waving a gun around at the hotel on October 19. Police say responded and found Rooney, who matched the description of the man with the gun, but it's unclear what the end result of that encounter was.

In interviews with police, officers say Rooney admitted to shooting his wife, saying: "I don't know why I shot [the victim]."

Rooney is currently in custody at Hennepin County Jail.