Teenagers Scoured City For Victims
Jerry and Kevin Boot scoured Spokane for victims.
For two days before they kidnapped Felicia Reese from a downtown Spokane parking lot, the Boots pulled off a string of misdeeds. They fired a gun at a crowd of teenagers, robbed a pizza deliveryman and set a trap for unsuspecting drivers so they could steal a car, any car.
The young cousins prowled around, threatened to kill people and bought drugs. What they didn’t do, they talked about at length, like holding up a flower shop, robbing a Hillyard tavern and shooting at random strangers.
Anyone was fair game.
After his arrest for Reese’s murder, Jerry Boot told sheriff’s detectives all about his 48-hour crime binge with Kevin Boot.
His account was made public in Superior Court on Thursday.
He told police it all started on Christmas Day 1994, sheriff’s Detective Rick Grabenstein testified.
Jerry Boot said he found a handgun in some bushes near Gonzaga Prep and showed the weapon to Kevin Boot, who asked to carry it. A short time later, they spotted some teenagers on Mission Avenue and Kevin Boot said he wanted to shoot them, Jerry Boot told detectives.
He fired one shot at the group and ran when the gun jammed, his cousin said. They didn’t know if anyone was hurt.
The next day the Boots went to a friend’s apartment and hatched a plan to rob a pizza deliveryman. They ordered a 26-inch pie from Pizza Pipeline and had it delivered to a vacant apartment nearby.
When the deliveryman showed up, the Boots sprayed him with mace, detectives said. Kevin Boot fired one shot at the man as he left, according to Jerry Boot.
On Dec. 27, both youths went to NorthTown Mall, where Kevin Boot threatened to kill someone’s child. Later they took a bus downtown and found out about a party in the Valley.
They decided to steal a car to get there.
At first the youths went to an area near Deaconess Medical Center, where they set up garbage cans in the street and planned to rob at gunpoint the first driver who stopped to move the cans. A hospital security officer scared them away.
Still wanting a car, the Boots walked to the turnout on Spokane Falls Boulevard near the carousel, where Kevin Boot said he’d seen people leave their cars running.
Striking out again, the two went to the Sheraton-Spokane Hotel, where they hid behind a tractor in the parking lot and waited.
“The plan was to ”jack ‘em,’ which is a street term for carjack,” Grabenstein testified. “There was no indication of what they’d do to the driver of the car.”
About 10 p.m., Felicia Reese, 22, came along.
The Boots kidnapped her at gunpoint and drove her to a North Side park, where Jerry Boot said his cousin shot her in the face.
Both are charged with first-degree aggravated murder.
, DataTimes