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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Huckleberries Online

Hero: Just Doing What Was Needed

Joshua Gahl’s adrenaline took over. A woman had just been brutally attacked by a stranger with some sort of mallet as she walked down the Centennial Trail on Thursday near Spokane’s Mission Park. “I hear a woman screaming for help,” said Gahl (pictured), the operations supervisor at the nearby Maplewood Gardens assisted living facility, whose shop is just feet from where the violent attack occurred. “I was kind of unsure what I heard at first. I thought it might have been one of our residents that fell, so I went outside.” That’s where he found the bloodied victim. “There’s a lady standing there with her head in her hand, screaming for help, and I said, ‘Hon, what’s wrong? Is there something I can help you with?’ She pointed down the trail, and about 30 feet in front of her was this man, kind of walking away. “She says, ‘that guy just attacked me’ ”/Chelsea Bannach, SR. More here. (SR photo: Dan Pelle)

Question: Do you consider the Centennial Trail to be safe?



D.F. Oliveria
D.F. (Dave) Oliveria joined The Spokesman-Review in 1984. He currently is a columnist and compiles the Huckleberries Online blog and writes about North Idaho in his Huckleberries column.

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