Police Department

Officer Involved Shooting

Lt. Terry Preuninger, PIO

Tuesday, February 13, 2024 at 8:16 a.m.

Updated Feb. 16, 2024

Spokane Police Officers were involved in an officer involved shooting Monday afternoon. The following information is preliminary; more information will be released at a later time by the Spokane Independent Investigation Response (SIIR) team. 

On February 12^th at about 12:03 PM, the Spokane Police Department received a call from an officer with the Washington State Department of Corrections who advised he was on the phone with a male who was talking about committing suicide with a knife and “threatening to stab passerby’s”.  The male was also speaking about forcing law enforcement to shoot him. 

The male was downtown within a block of the STA Plaza near Post and Riverside. Officers immediately responded to the area in the core of downtown as people were working and moving through the city, making them vulnerable to an assault from the male armed with a knife.

Preliminary reports are that as the male moved from the area of Howard and Riverside to the mid-block of Howard between Main and Riverside, he confronted a man and held the knife to the man’s throat.  

At about 12:08 PM while police were arriving, a second caller advised they observed a male displaying a knife on Howard Street in front of a downtown restaurant. 

At 12:11 officers arrived and three different SPD officers deployed tasers to control the armed man. The tasers were ineffective and two SPD officers then fired their weapons which incapacitated the man.

Officers began life saving measures on the male until medical personnel arrived.  The male was then transported to a local hospital where he is being treated for life threatening injuries. 

The Spokane Independent Investigative Response (SIIR) team will conduct the investigation. 

The SIIR Team is comprised of multiple agencies in eastern Washington, including the Spokane Police Department, Washington State Patrol, Spokane Valley Police Department and the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office.  As an involved agency, Spokane Police Department personnel will not be involved in this investigation in compliance with WAC 139-12.

• The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office is the case managing agency for this incident. All future communications will be sent via the SIIR Team.
• The Spokane Police Department will release the names of the officers involved at a later time.
• Once the SIIR Team investigation is complete, the case will be forwarded to the Spokane County Prosecutor’s Office for review.

Related Photos

The following officers were involved in the incident:

• Officer Lee Barker
• Officer Seth Wolfe

• Newer
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