Police say $40 debt prompted shooting

A shooting last weekend in a Spokane apartment where two young children live landed a 44-year-old man in jail on an assault charge.

Robert T. Finkbeiner is accused of shooting Rachel A. Mitchell in her left leg during a fight Sunday over a $40 debt at 813 E. Sinto Ave. He was taken into custody Tuesday.

Mitchell was visiting a friend when Finkbeiner confronted her about money he said her boyfriend, a Spokane County Jail inmate, owed him, according to court documents filed Wednesday.

Mitchell told police Finkbeiner shot her in the left leg. Her friend’s 3-year-old and 9-month-old children were in the room when he pulled the gun, police said. Police learned of the case when Mitchell went to a hospital with a gunshot wound.