Man shot, killed in street

One man was killed after another man drew a gun during an argument in the middle of a neighborhood street Thursday evening, police said.

The victim, who was 24, was in a car on Eighth Avenue between Freya and Thor streets when the dispute broke out.

“We have a suspect in one car, the victim in another,” Spokane police Cpl. Tom Lee said. “At some point, they came out of their cars.”

Shots were fired just before 5:30 p.m., he said. When police arrived, the victim was in “serious, serious” condition, Lee said. An officer performed CPR until medics arrived.

Jimmy Marks, a neighbor who saw the aftermath, said the victim had been shot in the chest.

The victim was taken to Deaconess Medical Center but was dead upon arrival. His name was not available late Thursday pending notification of next of kin.

Police apprehended a suspect and detained him for questioning, Lee said. As of late Thursday, the man had not been arrested.

Behind the crime-scene tape, police found a gun in tall weeds. A dog from the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office located at least one shell casing, Lee said.

Technicians from the County-City Identification Unit were called in, and the suspect’s car – a white Chevrolet sedan – was impounded, Lee said. The victim’s car was a silver Mazda sedan.

Witnesses told investigators that the argument between the man who was shot and the gunman had been going on for some time. Police did not know whether the two knew each other, but they “certainly knew of each other” before the incident, Lee said.

On that block in the area of the shooting, drivers sometimes use Eighth Avenue as a shortcut to avoid a couplet where Freya and Thor streets each becomes one-way.

Marks said residents of a house near the crime scene often yell at cars that go too fast down the dirt street.

“There’s about a dozen guys, with chairs and tables … and they yell at you, ‘Slow down! Slow down!’ ” Marks said. “And if you don’t slow down, they throw rocks at you, and sticks.”

Lee said he couldn’t say whether the occupants of the house were involved in the shooting, “but several people have brought that up.”