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Acquaintances of a man arrested for the shooting death of another suspected methamphetamine user told detectives he was dangerously unstable and often accused people at gunpoint of things they did not do.
A witness in the investigation of Warren Scott Flinn’s homicide said suspect Shane Caleb Smith, 38, is known as “Psycho Shane” and sometimes speaks of imaginary people and vivid hallucinations, according to court documents filed Wednesday.
Read the rest of my story here.
Smith is pictued in 2004. He now has long, scraggly hair that extends past his shoulders.
Detective Michael Drapeau and investigators with the Spokane County Sheriff's Office remove evidence from a house at 6704 E. Third Ave. in Spokane Valley Tuesday. (SRphoto/Colin Mulvany)
A suspect was arrested today in Spokane Valley for the May 12 shooting death of a 
44-year-old man.
Shane Caleb Smith, 38, is accused of murdering Warren Scott Flinn, who was found badly injured May 13.
Flinn (pictured) died May 16 at a local hospital of what the medical examiner’s office ruled were gunshots to his head.
Read the rest of my story here.
Update: Detectives believe Smith shot Flinn in a fight over cigarettes. Read more here.
STOCKHOLM, N.Y. (AP) — Authorities say a northern New York man had his friend shoot him in the leg with a rifle because he wanted to know what it feels like to be shot.
State police in St. Lawrence County say the shooting occurred around 5 p.m. Sunday in the rural town of Stockholm when 25-year-old Shawn Mossow of neighboring Norfolk relented to his friend's repeated requests and shot him once in the right leg with a .22-caliber rifle.
The 24-year-old man from Norfolk is expected to make a full recovery. Police haven't released his name.
Mossow was charged with reckless endangerment. He's being held in the county jail on $10,000 bail. It could not be immediately determined if he had a lawyer.
A man accused of a shooting in which a 6-year-old girl was injured pleaded not guilty today in Spokane County Superior Court. 
Abubakar Samura, 21, remains in jail on $500,000 bond and an immigration hold after his arraignment today before Superior Court Judge Annette Plese.
Samura turned himself in on two counts of first-degree assault April 6 for the March 4 shooting near a home in the 1800 block of East Fourth Avenue.
Matthew W. Woods, 23, was shot in the legs and back, and the girl was shot in a foot while she was inside the home. Spokane police say Woods was at the home with a friend when he heard someone from a home nearby in the 300 block of South Pittsburg Street yell what he understood to be a derogatory statement about their gang.
A confrontation ensued, and Samura shot Woods in the leg, then fired several more times as Woods ran to a nearby home, police say. Three witnesses granted anonymity by police identified Samura as the gunman.
The case originally was charged in Spokane County District Court, then transferred to Superior Court April 30. Samura is represented by Chris Phelps.
Doug Snarski knew someone was going to die when he realized his girlfriend’s ex was inside their home early Sunday.
The intruder, Sean Parsons, was armed with a shotgun, a handgun, a belt stocked with ammunition and yelling about how no one would be getting out of the house alive. Parsons had arrived at the Newman Lake home about 12:30 a.m. - just hours after he’d been served with a restraining order that prohibited him from going within two miles of the house.
“He didn’t come here to get on my Christmas list,” Snarski said Monday at his home, where he’s lived for 27 years. “He was on a mission to kill.”
A Spokane man who shot a man outside a Spokane Valley bar last November has been sentenced to about 15 years in prison.
Aaron Phillip Williams, 31, already has a conviction for second-degree assault, so his first-degree assault conviction counts as a second strike under Washington's three-strikes law.
A conviction for a third violent crime will put him in prison for life with no chance of parole.
Williams will have plenty of time to think about that - he was sentenced last week in Spokane County Superior Court to 178 months for the shooting Nov. 20. Williams shot a man in the parking lot of Goodtymes Pub, 9214 E. Mission Ave., during a confrontation between two groups of men
A police dog found Williams hiding in a backyard koi fish pond nearby.
Williams has previous convictions for second-degree assault, unlawful possession of a firearm and harming a police dog, all in Kitsap County. He also has juvenile convictions for first-degree robbery, first-degree theft, residential burglary, second-degree burglary and obstructing law enforcement.
A fight over an old car near a remote Pend Oreille County lake led to a rare double homicide in which investigators believe the victims killed each other.
No arrests are expected in the homicides of Richard “Richie” R. Hill, 18, and Steven Quinn Divine, 22, early Sunday because investigators believe each is responsible for the others death, officials said Monday.
“One of the victims had a knife, the other had a gun. And the results are they are both deceased,” said Thomas Metzger, Pend Oreille County coroner and prosecutor.
A shooting on Spokane's lower South Hill early Thursday occurred during a botched drug deal, police said today. 
Arthur Frank Cardenas, 33, (pictured) was shot in the stomach by an unidentified gunman near 1800 W. Sixth Ave., about 6:40 a.m., then driven from the scene by Alicia M. Favro, 41, according to court documents filed today.
Favro flagged over a police officer to get help for Cardenas near 13th Avenue and South Cedar Street. Officers realized she had a 9 mm .380 semi-automatic pistol in her purse when she tried to go through security at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center, police say.
Favro told officers several versions of what happened but admitted to putting the firearm in her purse after finding it on the rear floorboard of Cardenas' white Chevy Malibu, according to police.
Favro has felony convictions for assault and forgery that prohibit her from possessing firearms. She was arrested for unlawful possession on a firearm.
Superior Court Judge Annette Plese today ordered Favro to stay in jail on $100,000 bond after a Spokane police detective attended her court appearance and said the shooting was the result of a drug deal gone bad, and that more charges are expected.
Cardenas' gunshot wound is not considered life threatening. He was arrested in 2010 as part of a large gang sweep in Grant and Adams counties.
Police at the time alleged he was the leader of a large criminal gang.
Gang and major crimes detectives are investigating Thursday's shooting. Anyone with information is asked to call (509) 635-GANG or visit www.stopspokanegangs.org to leave an anonymous tip.
A homeowner in Medical Lake accused of shooting a fleeing 14-year-old burglary suspect in the back last December has been charged with assault.
In new court documents, Spokane County sheriff’s detectives outline a shooting they believe went beyond homeowner Justin Jeffrey Brown defending his property and crossed the line to criminal assault.
A North Idaho woman who killed her uncle and burned his body has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. 
Melisa R. Bates, 28, is to be sentenced May 18 for the murder of Robert D. Marek, 43, last May at his home eight miles south of St. Maries, where Bates had been staying.
Bates originally was charged with first-degree murder, but the charge was reduced as part of a plea deal approved Wednesday, according to the Associated Press.
Bates shot Marek with a handgun before beating him with a metal rod, Benewah County Prosecutor Doug Payne said.
She underwent a psychological evaluation that declared her to fit to stand trial.
In this January 1997 photo, Marcus Schur, then eight-years-old, uses a wet-vac to suck up the remaining water in a family friend's kitchen after homes along Pine Creek in Rosalia flooded. Schur was murdered in Whitman County in December 2011. (SR archives)
A third suspect has been arrested in the December murder of a 23-year-old Rosalia man whose body recently was recovered from a Whitman County creek.
Lorin Travis Carlon, 35, is accused of helping murder suspects Frank Lazcano, 24, of Pine City, and Daniel Lazcano, 20, of Spokane, try to avoid arrest after the shooting death of Marcus Allen Schur, officials say.
Whitman County sheriff's deputies arrested Carlon Monday on a felony charge of first-degree rendering criminal assistance.
The Lazcano brothers were arrested Friday and remain jailed on murder charges.
Schur's body was pulled from the creek at the south end of Bonnie Lake March 25 after a fisherman spotted his body. An autopsy showed he was shot to death.
Schur had been missing since a dinner party on Dec. 27.
Host Nick Backman told The Spokesman-Review last week that Schur fled the rear door of a home in Malden when one man burst in and chased him out.
Backman said Schur's arms and legs were bound when his body was removed from the lack. He said the chase may have proceeded a home burglary.
Detectives still are investigating a motive, Whitman County Undersheriff Ron Rockness said today.
“Of course, the whole town of Rosalia assumes they know the motive,” Rockness said.
Rockness said the suspects knew Schur since childhood.
Schur's mother, Grace Schur, said memorial service plans are not yet finalized. A donation fund to help with expenses has been set up at the Bank of Fairfield.
Schur's uncle, Gene Schur, of Spokane, said he was shocked to learn of his nephew's murder from a TV news station.
“It happens to other people, but when it actually hits home it makes you more aware of what's going on in the community,” he said.
It's the first mruder arrest in Whitman County since 2005. A murder-suicide was reported there in 2010.
A 17-year-old Spokane boy has been charged with attempted murder for a drive-by shooting last week at a north Spokane home.
Travis W. Wood is accused of shooting out the front window of a home in the 500 block of East Maxine Avenue about 4 a.m. on March 26.
Another shooting was reported at the home March 2 - the same day the homeowners' granddaughter reported Wood to police as the suspect in the theft of her cellphone, according to court documents.
No one was injured in the shootings.
Wood was arrested on a juvenile warrant at his apartment at 202 E. Wedgewood Ave. hours after the March 26 incident. Police found a .380 caliber pistol in the apartment, as well as a box of ammunition with 11 rounds missing.
Police also obtained a search warrant for Woods' mother's 1991 Chevy Blazer that revealed a .380 shell casing. Wood was charged Friday with first-degree attempted murder and drive-by shooting.
Also charged in the case is Thomas J. Jones, 21. He is not yet in custody.
Woods' mother, Tonya Wood, said at his court appearance today that she's tried to get him help.
“I've tried since he was 16… to prevent this from getting as far, and here we are,” Tonya Wood said.
TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — A mother who authorities say left her 3-year-old son unrestrained in a car after she placed a pistol under the driver's seat has been charged with manslaughter in the death of the boy, who shot himself in the head while the woman went to get food.
The woman's boyfriend, who is the gun's owner, was also charged.
“Nothing is sadder than the death of a child, and when the death is the result of criminal negligence, there needs to be accountability,” Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist said Wednesday. “Guns are inherently dangerous, and the law, as well as common sense, requires that guns be handled responsibly, especially around children.”
The mother, Jahnisha McIntosh, 23, and her boyfriend, Eric Vita, 22, made their initial appearance on the second-degree manslaughter charges Wednesday afternoon in Pierce County Superior Court. They both pleaded not guilty.
Julio Segura-McIntosh's death on March 14 was the third child shooting in Western Washington within three weeks. On Feb. 22, an 8-year-old girl was critically wounded by a gun that went off in a classmate's backpack in a Bremerton school. On March 10, the 7-year-old daughter of a Marysville police officer was killed when her brother found a gun in the family car.
In Julio's case, Vita and McIntosh had stopped for gas in Tacoma. Vita, who has a concealed weapons permit, removed his gun from his waistband to avoid alarming the clerk and placed it under the passenger seat, the prosecutor said.
Julio had unbuckled himself and climbed into the front seat to ask his mother for candy. McIntosh moved the gun from under the passenger seat to under the driver's seat so Julio could not reach it. Then, she went inside the convenience store for food, leaving Julio unrestrained, the prosecutor said.
Julio found the gun and shot himself in the head. McIntosh's 8-month old daughter was in the car at the time and was not hurt.
Friends and family told detectives that Vita routinely showed off the gun with a laser sight and on one occasion offered to let Julio hold the gun before another adult intervened.
Vita's attorney, David Gehrke, told KOMO that that shooting was a tragedy that has left everyone involved in shock. Vita acted reasonably, he said.
“I think he was being very careful. He did not just leave the gun there, without another adult present. And I think if the mother had stayed in there, this probably would not have happened,” Gehrke said.
“My understanding is that the child went from the back seat to the front seat, got the gun, the mom took it away and said, 'No, leave that alone,' and then put it under her seat. And then inexplicably she got out and went into the convenience store to buy something,” he said.
Gehrke said he's not blaming the mother.
“She lost her child, and that should be punishment for any parent in a circumstance like this,” he said.
The child shootings have raised questions about Washington's gun laws. The state is one of 23 that doesn't have a specific law to prevent child access to firearms, such as mandatory trigger locks or criminal penalties for adults who allow children to access guns, according to the San Francisco-based group Legal Community Against Violence.
Washington state law is specific about carrying loaded pistols in vehicles, however. A person with a concealed weapons permit must lock the gun and conceal it from view if it is left in the car.
In the Bremerton classroom shooting that nearly killed Amina Kocer-Bowman, the Kitsap County prosecutor charged the mother of a boy who brought the gun in his backpack and the mother's boyfriend with felony assault for allowing the boy access to the .45-caliber handgun. Jamie Lee Chaffin, and her boyfriend, Douglas L. Bauer, have pleaded not guilty.
In the Stanwood shooting, the Snohomish County prosecutor's office said Wednesday the shooting is still under investigation by the sheriff's office. When the case is sent to the prosecutor's office, it will decide whether charges should be filed against Officer Derek Carlile, who left a loaded gun in the car.
Snohomish sheriff's spokesman Kevin Prentiss said Wednesday that investigators are wrapping up loose ends and finishing interview transcripts, and the case should go to the prosecutor's office within two weeks. Detectives used child interview specialists to question children.
Past coverage:
(AP and staff reports) — A Nez Perce Tribal Police officer has been cleared in the fatal shooting of a Lewiston man, but one of his colleagues could be in trouble.
U.S. Attorney Wendy Olson announced Thursday that the officer who shot 46-year-old Jeffery Allen Flinn would not be prosecuted.
But another officer, Trevor Michael Garrett, had been charged with making false statements to FBI agents investigating Flinn's death.
Flinn died following a 50-mile car chase that ended in gunfire Nov. 12.
Police say earlier that day, Flinn had been released from jail following a drunken driving arrest and then got involved in a one-vehicle crash outside Lewiston. Police say he then stole a truck from another motorist and fled before officers arrived.
Tribal police say they tried to pull Flinn over, but he refused.
The indictment, returned Wednesday by a grand jury in Coeur d'Alene, alleges Garrett lied to FBI agents when he told them he didn't remember the details of what happened between the time he fired at Flinn and the time another officer secured Flinn's rifle.
The indictment alleges those statement were false “because Garrett knew that he remembered that Flinn exited a truck, and that Flinn stood facing law enforcement officers with his hands in the air for three to five seconds before he was shot and killed,” according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. “The indictment further alleges that Garrett's statements were false because he did know the name and identity of the police officer who shot Flinn.”
The incident was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Idaho State Police.
In a prepared statement Thursday, Olson called the investigation “detailed and thorough.” “We pursued and obtained all the information necessary to make a prosecutive decision,” she said.
To prove a violation of the federal criminal civil rights statute prohibiting law enforcement officer misconduct, prosecutors must establish beyond a reasonable doubt that the officer intentionally used more force than he or she could reasonably have thought necessary under the circumstances, according to a news release.
“That issue was the focus of the investigation,” said Olson.
A decision not to prosecute may be made for a variety of reasons, Olson said, including insufficiency of evidence to prove the police officer intentionally used more force than was necessary.
“The statute sets out a tough standard in cases involving allegations of unreasonable force by a police officer,” she said. “It requires that we be cautious, thorough and deliberative, and that's what we've been in this case. We determined that under the circumstances, including the weather conditions, lighting and officer's knowledge and state of mind leading up to the shooting, we could not prove all of the elements of this offense beyond a reasonable doubt. In such situations, we are obligated to decline prosecution. We do so here.”
Crime Stoppers is now offering a reward for tips that lead to the arrest of a man accused of shooting a 6-year-old girl earlier this month.
Abubakar “Abu” Samura, 21, is wanted on two first-degree assault charges for the shooting at a home March 4 in the 1800 block of East Fourth Avenue.
Spokane police say victim Matthew Woods was at the home with a friend about 8 p.m. when he heard someone from a home nearby in the 300 block of South Pittsburg Street yell what he understood to be a derogatory statement about their gang.
The men responded and one shot Woods in the leg, then fired several more times as he ran to a nearby home.
Three witnesses granted anonymity by police identified Samura as the gunman.
Samura, 5-foot-5 and 160 pounds, last gave an address in the 1400 block of East Hartson Avenue in Spokane.
Anyone with information on his current location is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS or submit tips online. Tipsters do not have to leave their name to collect a reward but should leave a code name or number.
The vehicle where a 3-year-old boy fatally shot himself with a gun is seen behind police tape and parked at a gas station early Wednesday in Tacoma. (AP photo/komonews.com)
By DONNA BLANKINSHIP and DOUG ESSER,Associated Press
SEATTLE (AP) — A 3-year-old scrambled out of his child seat after his parents stopped for gas early Wednesday, found a gun police say was left in the car by his father and fatally shot himself in the head.
The accidental shooting in Tacoma marks the third in three weeks in Washington involving young children, and the second death. The spate of gun violence is raising questions about the effectiveness of the state's gun laws and community awareness of firearm safety.
Tacoma police Officer Naveed Benjamin said the 3-year-old boy's death highlights the need for people to secure guns.
“It is incredible in light of the other ones,” Benjamin said. “You would think people would take more care, not less.”
Tacoma police said the boy's death came after his father put his pistol under a seat and got out to pump gas while the mother went inside the convenience store. The boy's infant sister, who also was in the car when the gun went off, was not injured.
The Pierce County medical examiner has identified the boy as Julio Segura-McIntosh of Tacoma.
Detectives questioned the parents and have called the shooting a tragic accident, Benjamin said. The father has a concealed weapons permit, and no charges have been filed, he said. Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist said that he is reviewing the case for possible manslaughter charges.
Washington does not have a law specifically concerning child access to firearms, but state law is very specific about carrying loaded pistols in vehicles.
A person with a concealed weapons permit may carry a gun in a car in Washington state, but is required to have it on his person. If they have to leave it in the car, the law says it must be locked and concealed from view.
The Wednesday shooting follows the death of the 7-year-old daughter of a Marysville police officer in Stanwood on Saturday when a sibling found a gun and fired while the parents were out of their car. And on Feb. 22, an 8-year-old girl was critically wounded in a Bremerton classroom when a gun fired inside the backpack of a 9-year-old boy as he put it on a desk.
The two deaths represent an uptick in the number of these tragic accidents, according to Washington state health officials.
About one accidental firearm death of a child each year is typical in the state, according to state health statistics gathered between 2007 and 2010, said Health Department spokesman Tim Church. During that same time, an average of nine kids 17 and younger ended up in the hospital because of an accidental shooting, Church added.
“You can't predict what children are going to do,” Benjamin said. “You need to unload and lock it up if you're not carrying it. … It's really not that hard to practice firearm safety.”
A spokesman for the Second Amendment Foundation said existing laws are enough to encourage gun safety, as long as the gun owners obey them.
“Responsible people will maintain gun safety whether there is a law or not; irresponsible people will ignore the law,” said Dave Workman, senior editor of the group's publication, thegunmag.com. He said existing statutes, including child endangerment laws, were designed to prevent such tragedies.
Workman said what he can't figure out is why the two men left their guns in their vehicles when they were licensed to carry them.
“Most responsible gun owners, especially if they're licensed to carry, will keep their firearm with them,” Workman said.
Twenty-seven states have some form of law to prevent child access to firearms, but Washington is not one of them. Such laws can include criminal penalties for adults who allow children to get their hands on guns, according to the San Francisco-based group Legal Community Against Violence.
State Rep. Sam Hunt, D-Olympia, expressed doubt that the Legislature could succeed at overcoming opposition from gun rights advocates to strengthen state gun laws.
He said a former state representative tried and failed for years to strengthen restrictions on firearms sales at gun shows.
“The forces that be wouldn't even support doing that. It's pretty strong from the gun lobby that they don't want to see any change under any circumstance,” Hunt said.
Washington Cease Fire Executive Director Gregory Roberts responded to the latest shooting, saying, “We think guns are dangerous, but they are not treated as dangerous by our society or by laws or by our regulations,” he said. “We regard guns as some sort of sacred object that should not be subject to regulation.”
The Seattle organization is currently running a campaign of ads on buses urging people to think twice about owning guns. People with guns in their home or car are more likely to injure or kill a family member or loved one than to use it against an intruder, he said.
In Saturday's shooting, off-duty Marysville police Officer Derek Carlile had parked the family van near Stanwood City Hall, and he and his wife were out of the vehicle when one of their children found the loaded gun and fired. The shot hit 7-year-old Jenna Carlile, and the girl, the oldest of their four children, died Sunday at a Seattle hospital.
The 8-year-old Bremerton girl, Amina Kocer-Bowman, remained in serious condition at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle after nearly dying in the accidental shooting at Armin Jahr Elementary, where a classmate brought a handgun to class.
Authorities believe the boy took the .45-caliber gun from the glove compartment of a car while visiting his mother and her boyfriend at their home. He lives with an uncle.
___
AP newsmen Jonathan Kaminsky and Chris Grygiel contributed to this story.
A man accused of shooting a young girl Sunday night confronted a group with a gun after hearing gang-related insults, Spokane police allege.
Abubakar “Abu” Samura, 21, is wanted on two counts of first-degree assault. A $500,000 warrant was issued Tuesday.
Police say several bullets from Samura's gun struck a home in the 1800 block of East 4th Avenue, including one that lodged inside the foot of a 6-year-old girl inside the home.
A suspect has been identified in a shooting that injured a 6-year-old girl and a 23-year-old man in east central Spokane.
Abubakar “Abu” Samura, 21, is wanted on two first-degree assault charges for the shooting at a home Sunday in the 1800 block of East Fourth Avenue.
Samura's home address is not known, but he's believed to frequent the area of East 9th Avenue and South Perry Street, Spokane police said today.
Officers responded to reports of a man shooting another man in a front yard near Liberty Park about 9 p.m. Sunday.
The man who was shot ran to a neighbor's house for help before collapsing, police said. Police believed the girl was an unintended victim of the shooting. Both victims are expected to survive.
Police say the shooting is gang related. Anyone with information on Samura's location is asked to call the gang enforcement team at (509) 625-GANG (4264). He's described as 5-foot-4 and 160 pounds.
A candidate for Kootenai County sheriff who shot a man in downtown Coeur d'Alene in 2009 and later pleaded guilty to a
felony heroin charge is not eligible for the position, officials say.
Adam Mathis Johnson, 27, cannot hold office because he's on probation for two years after pleading guilty to a felony controlled substance charge, Kootenai County Prosecutor Barry McHugh said Thursday.
Johnson will get his rights restored once he completed a two-year probation term. Until then, he's also restricted from carrying firearms.
Johnson was arrested on drug charges in Post Falls in April. He was arrested on an attempted murder charge in December 2009 after a shooting in downtown Coeur d’Alene that a grand jury ruled was self defense. Johnson's victim is suing his own civil lawyer for malpractice.
Johnson was featured in The Spokesman-Review a weekend before the shooting in a story about the Big Brothers Big Sisters program.. He was also featured in 2007 in a story about his business, Convertec.
A cigar left at a burglary scene last summer led detectives on Wednesday to arrest a 21-year-old man as a suspect.
DNA on the cigar that was sent to the state crime lab matched DNA that Trevor Codi Frantz provided when he was convicted of a felony first-degree theft in April 2010, according to court documents.
Detectives seized the cigar while investigating a burglary in the 8500 block of East Cataldo Avenue in Spokane Valley July 30. They believe the burglars used the cigar to try to light the home on fire.
A career criminal now serving life in prison, Larry A. Powell, fired shots at a neighbor who tried to stop the burglary. Powell was arrested shortly after the shooting. He already was wanted for not showing up for the end of his trial for a different robbery case.
Frantz was booked into jail Wednesday about 1 p.m. on charges of attempted first-degree arson and first-degree burglary.
Reporter Meghann Cuniff writes about public safety news from the Inland Northwest and beyond.
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