SPD: Officer Involved Shooting, Suspect Killed

 A 46-year-old Spokane man died Friday morning after he fired a gun at police officers who were responding to a threat call on the city’s South Hill.

The name of the suspect is being withheld until release by the Spokane County Medical Examiner’s Office.  His autopsy was scheduled for 10:30 a.m.

Spokane police were dispatched to a home in the 4100 block of East Thirty-Sixth about 6 a.m. when a neighbor of the complainant called him and warned him that the suspect had driven up and was outside his house.

The complainant and suspect reportedly have been in an ongoing dispute over some firearms and the suspect had previously made threats against the complainant.

The complainant told 911 that he believed the suspect was armed.  He also stated that he had guns in his home and had armed himself.  Because of the elevating nature of the call, sheriff’s deputies began responding to assist.

As officers arrived at the scene and approached the house, the suspect began firing at one of them.  That officer retreated and returned fire.  The suspect was struck and collapsed in the yard of the complainant’s home.

The suspect was restrained and then treated by paramedics, but was pronounced dead at a downtown hospital shortly afterward.

Because the shooting was officer-involved, the Critical Incident Protocol was invoked and the sheriff’s office became the lead agency in the investigation.  However, both SPD and Washington State Patrol detectives were assisting in the investigation.

A canvas of the neighborhood revealed no one but the suspect was struck during the exchange of gunfire.  Thirty-Sixth was blocked off with crime scene tape and closed for several hours while detectives processed the scene and collected evidence.