Woman’s shooting a mystery to police

A woman was shot in the back early Wednesday morning, but Spokane police were unsure exactly how it happened.

A 46-year-old victim and her 18-year-old niece have given different accounts as to how the shooting took place, Sgt. Joe Peterson said.

Both women had been drinking prior to the shooting, which was called in at 1:49 a.m. Wednesday. It occurred in the 4300 block of North Post Street.

The niece told officers that she and her aunt were walking down the sidewalk across from a group of young men who were fighting. The niece said someone fired two to four gunshots and her aunt was hit in the back of her shoulder.

“But there is no evidence at the scene leading us to verify” the niece’s story, Peterson said. “Something happened because (the aunt) got shot. How it occurred, we are not sure.”

The niece initially didn’t believe her aunt had been shot until she and a friend later checked the aunt in a car after the friend had picked them up from the scene, Peterson said.

The niece “says there was an argument with several people on the sidewalk and they were on the other side of the street. The (woman) who got shot doesn’t remember seeing five or six people across the street. She just remembers getting shot,” Peterson said.

However, both the niece and aunt are consistent on one point, he said.

“Neither of these people feel they were targeted,” Peterson said.

Officers talked to neighbors, and several reported hearing gunshots, but none said they saw a group of young men or heard arguing prior to the shooting.

Police are withholding the victim’s identity.

“She has been medicated, plus she had been drinking. She is sleeping, so we haven’t been able to talk to her again,” Peterson said.

The woman has already been treated for the gunshot wound and released from a local hospital. She did tell police that she dropped a beer can when she was struck by the bullet.

“We did find that, so we know we have the correct location,” Peterson said. “We are just unsure how it went down.”

Anyone with information is asked to call (509) 242-TIPS (8477).