A once “extremely wealthy” fashion CEO fatally shot his wife before killing himself after a crushing money loss and mental spiral, his brother says, as Oakland police investigate the Friday deaths near UC Berkeley.
Oakland police found Michelle Min and Bryan Walker dead on a turf terrace attached to their home in the hills near UC Berkeley on Friday. One firearm was recovered at the scene. The Oakland Police Department is leading the investigation and has not ruled out a murder-suicide.
Michelle’s brother, Paul Min, 58, told The California Post that Walker carried out the killings after learning he was about to be institutionalized that morning. Paul said the couple had been married more than 30 years, that Michelle controlled their women’s fashion company Bryn Walker, and that Walker stood aside while she ran the business.
Paul described a rapid collapse from extreme wealth into panic, debt, and weeks of breakdown. He said the family had hidden firearms because they feared Walker was suicidal. On the morning he was set to be institutionalized, Paul said, Walker retrieved a gun, loaded it downstairs, shot Michelle on the turf patio as she let out their small dog Pip, then shot himself.
CBS reviewed haunting surveillance video that the network described as too horrifying to air. The first gunshot was heard around 10:43 a.m. Friday. A man was heard crying and screaming in a very dramatic scene. A second gunshot came a short time later, then dead quiet.
Paul said a friend down the street received a text from Walker that read “Call 911.” The friend bolted to the house. The fatal shots, Paul said, had already been fired before the friend arrived. Walker had already shot his wife and himself.
Police found what Paul called a sort of suicide note at the scene. It included passcodes to Walker’s and Michelle’s phones. Paul said the note suggested Walker had planned the act and left the codes so the family could arrange their affairs.
Paul said Walker had taken out loans against properties behind the family’s back and gambled on risky options and leveraged positions. By mid-September, after the dust cleared, Walker believed he had lost “well over $100 million.”
Paul put the scale of the blow in plain terms.
"Imagine that happening to you? You would collapse. Your spouse lied to you and lost over $100 million and you might be out on the streets."
He added:
"You might go from being one of the wealthiest people in the country to being homeless because your husband lied to you and wagered everything on crazy bets."
Michelle hired a hotshot accountant in Chicago. The accountant told them the situation was not as bad as they believed. Paul said Michelle was determined to salvage what she could. She fed, coddled, and embraced her husband through the crisis.
Paul said Walker suffered extensive mental anguish for months. After the money shock, the breakdown turned physical and constant.
"He just curled up into a ball, and he was just sobbing like a baby for weeks on end. He was just completely useless."
The family, Paul said, concluded Walker “had basically gone insane.” They feared he was suicidal. They made plans to institutionalize him. Friday morning was the morning that plan was set to happen. Paul said Walker had resisted mental help.
Paul’s account of motive is blunt and unfinished at the same time. He believes Walker shot Michelle because he learned he was going to be institutionalized. Paul also said no one knows, including him, exactly why it ended this way.
"I think he was just too weak to go by himself."
He continued:
"I used to think of him as a strong person, but I’d never seen him tested. When he lost his money, I kept trying to tell him, like, ‘It’s just money.'"
Paul said his sister stayed devoted even as the crisis closed in. He said she did not turn on Walker with harsh words.
"My sister was utterly devoted to Brian to the very end, and he shot her."
Paul recalled what she told her husband:
"She didn’t say anything harsh to him. She just said, ‘Brian, you’ve been sick. It’s my fault, I should have known better. I should have known you were in a crisis.'"
Then:
"She blamed herself. That’s the kind of person she was."
Paul’s grief broke into the question hanging over the whole account.
"Why take our beautiful sister?"
And:
"Why not just kill yourself?"
Both Michelle and Walker are dead. They leave Paul and their sister Alexandra, 60. Paul said the family is dealing with a complete mess. He said he will run their fashion company. Relatives are trying to reorganize Walker’s financial wreckage.
Official police findings remain limited in public view. Oakland police found the couple, recovered one firearm, and have not ruled out a murder-suicide. No charging documents, autopsy details, or final official cause-of-death ruling beyond that posture appear in the available account. The sequence of who shot whom, and in what order, still rests heavily on Paul’s description alongside the surveillance audio CBS reviewed.
What is already clear is the chain Paul laid out: hidden loans, catastrophic paper losses, a husband who collapsed for weeks, a wife who tried to hold the household together, a planned institutionalization set for Friday morning, a “Call 911” text, two shots on a home camera, and a note with phone passcodes left behind.
Money can vanish on a bad bet. Character gets tested when it does. Michelle Min paid with her life for a crisis she tried to absorb, and her family is left to bury two people and rebuild what reckless leverage destroyed.
