Police officers shoot man on edge of Shadle Park High School
Apr. 18—A man was shot multiple times by Spokane police officers Thursday on the edge of Shadle Park High School after police say the man shot a tow truck during a dispute with the driver earlier in the day in north Spokane.
Spokane Police Chief Justin Lundgren told reporters officers were called at about 4:30 p.m. Thursday to the 5900 block of North Lindeke Street in Northwest Spokane for an argument between a man and a tow truck driver conducting a repossession.
Lundgren said police received reports the man threatened the tow truck driver with a knife and then fired a gun, striking the tow truck. The man fled in a vehicle.
Officers developed probable cause to arrest the man on suspicion of drive-by shooting and unlawful possession of a firearm, Lundgren said.
They located the suspect at 6:15 p.m. near a ballfield where a baseball game was being played at the Shadle Park High School campus.
Police tried to contact the man, but he ran from officers, Lundgren said. Officers chased him away from the game when a "shooting occurred" in a parking lot on the south side of the school.
The man was hit multiple times by gunfire. Lundgren said officers and medics rendered aid before he was taken to a hospital where he underwent surgery Thursday night.
Police recovered a gun next to the suspect, whose name has not been released, and it was unknown whether the suspect fired his weapon, Lundgren said. Three officers fired their weapons and will be placed on administrative leave, per officer-involved shooting protocol.
No one else was injured.
Megan Martens-Haworth, who lives across the street from the high school, said she heard about 10 to 12 "really fast" pops she thought were fireworks.
Then, she heard sirens and ran upstairs from her basement and saw police cars, fire trucks and ambulances. She popped her head out the door and saw an officer stringing up crime scene tape.
"I said, 'Was that gunfire?' And he goes, 'Yes, get back in your house,'" Martens-Haworth said.
She said high school track and field students were practicing at the track across the street from her home when gunfire erupted.
The "most alarming" part was watching the coaches escorting about 20 athletes to the other end of the track, she said.
"My heart was in my throat when I saw the coaches rushing them off the field," she said.
Martens-Haworth, who was home with her daughter, said the shooting was scary.
"When the school's not in session, it's really quiet around here, so that was a shocker," she said.
The Spokane Independent Investigative Response Team is investigating the shooting, with the Washington State Patrol acting as the managing investigating agency.
Multiple law enforcement vehicles could be seen with red and yellow police tape blocking off the scene.
The shooting marked the fifth one involving Spokane police this year.
"Anytime there's an officer-involved shooting, it concerns me," Lundgren said. "It concerns me for our community. It concerns me for our officers. This one's no different."
