Spokane Man Linked To Shootings?

Investigators were close to releasing the identities of two men wanted in connection with two weekend gun-battles involving three officers, a State Highway Patrol spokesman said Monday.

Patrol Sgt. John Born said investigators were trying to use videotape from a patrol cruiser to identify the men.

“We’re working with the FBI to enhance those photos,” Born said.

A passing motorist was injured during the shootings. The three officers were not hurt.

The shootings began about 1:30 p.m. Saturday after a trooper stopped a blue Chevrolet Suburban with Washington state license plates on Ohio 73 for a registration violation.

When the driver could not produce a driver’s license, the trooper and a Clinton County deputy sheriff tried to search the man.

He broke free and ran to the Suburban, and a passenger in the vehicle fired several shots at the officers and then ran away, police said. The officers returned fire as the driver of the Suburban drove away.

A few minutes later, a Wilmington police officer saw the Suburban in a parking lot. He said he was fired upon when he tried to approach. The driver then ran away, the patrol said.

Frank Marsden, 56, of Wilmington, who was driving past the parking lot, was shot in the left shoulder. He was treated at a local hospital.

Born said he could not confirm reports that the Suburban was registered to a Spokane man who was questioned in Sioux Falls, S.D., in December in connection with a triple slaying in Arkansas early last year.