2 Teen Girls Arrested In Shootings Suspects In Car While Boy Opened Fire On Hillyard Homes, Police Say
Police have arrested two more teenagers who were in the car with a boy accused of gunning down two girls in northeast Spokane.
Amy Allen, 15, and Adawn Lowry, 16, both of Spokane, were booked into the Juvenile Detention Center over the weekend. Both are charged with first-degree rendering criminal assistance.
Police said the girls had been staying with John “Doug” Champagne, 18, for a week before the murders. Champagne is charged with driving the car to the Hillyard neighborhood shortly before 2 a.m. Aug. 9.
With him was Kenneth Comeslast, 15, who police say got out of the car and opened fire with an assault rifle on a group of girls sitting on the front porch at 2928 E. Central.
He then walked back toward Champagne’s car around the corner and fired off at least 11 more rounds before getting in and leaving. Five of those bullets hit nearby homes.
Two of the girls on the front porch, Kendra Grantham, 16, and Cindy Buffin, 17, were shot in the back of the head and killed instantly. Amanda Denny, 13, was treated for a bullet wound in the side and released from Holy Family Hospital. A fourth girl was not injured.
Champagne and another teenager, Christopher McIlveen, 17, were charged with rendering criminal assistance in the shooting, which police are calling gang-related. Champagne is being held at the Spokane County Jail with bail set at $100,000. McIlveen and Comeslast are waiting at the detention center for a hearing to determine whether they’ll be charged as adults.
Allen and Lowry may be released from detention as early as today, when they’ll be assigned to home electronic monitoring.
Juvenile prosecutor Carmela Conroy said Allen has been arrested once for assault and Lowry has no criminal background.
“The judge took that into consideration and decided they were not a threat to the community,” Conroy said.
Conroy said prosecutors have not yet decided whether they’ll request a hearing to try the girls as adults.
The girls had been “in and out” of their homes recently but kept in contact with their parents, officials said.
, DataTimes