Fight Ends In Gunfire

A fight that started outside a State Line Village dance club ended in gunfire early Saturday in front of a Spokane Valley sports bar.

No one was injured by the 2:15 a.m. shooting in front of Players and Spectators, 12828 E. Sprague, and no arrests have been made.

Two men escaped in a yellow-and-tan, late 1980s-model Toyota 4x4 pickup truck after firing as many as seven shots from a .38-caliber pistol, said David Reagan, sheriff’s department spokesman.

One of the bullets hit a pickup truck in the right upper rear of the cab, Reagan said. The rest did not find a target, he said.

Deputies have not determined a motive for the shooting but said it may have been related to a fight and minor traffic accident between the 26-year-old driver of the pickup truck hit by gunfire and the suspects at Kelly’s dance club at State Line.

The victim was knocked to the ground, hit and kicked in face and body by two men in the parking lot after the club closed, Reagan said.

When the fight broke up, the victim got into his truck to leave and was involved in a minor traffic accident with another vehicle, Reagan said. It was not clear if the occupants of the other car were involved in the fight.

As he headed back to Spokane, the victim believed he was being followed by a pickup, and drove to Players and Spectators, which was still open, Reagan said.

The pickup followed the victim’s truck to the west side of the sports bar’s parking lot. Two men believed to have been involved in the earlier fight jumped out. They opened fire at the truck when the victim drove away, Reagan said.

An off-duty deputy who was working as a security guard at the sports bar heard the commotion and alerted deputies, who stopped the victim nearby. The victim did not know he had been shot at.

Witnesses told deputies they saw a “very fast” chase involving two trucks in the parking lot and heard six or seven shots. Deputies recovered five spent shell casings, Reagan said.

The suspects were described as white males wearing cowboy hats. One was wearing a black cowboy hat, black jacket and jeans. The second was wearing a straw cowboy hat and light-colored jacket.

The victim was not injured by the gunfire, but had a swollen jaw, cuts and scrapes, and a bruise on his forehead that he suffered during the fight. His injuries did not require medical treatment.

, DataTimes