Man shot while preventing a suicide

Two men were hospitalized tonight after one was shot trying to keep the other from committing suicide. Spokane County Sheriff’s deputies were called shortly after 9 p.m. to a house in the 400 block of North Walker Street in Medical Lake for a report of shots fired. When deputies arrived on the scene, they learned that a man has suffered a gunshot wound to the arm as he attempted to prevent his friend from killing himself with a small .45 caliber semiautomatic handgun, said Lt. Earl Howerton. The shooting, which happened in a bathroom, appears to have been accidental. “What we have tonight is a bunch of drunken individuals,” Howerton said. “Nobody was really trying to shoot anybody, except the guy trying to shoot himself.” Both men, whose names were not released, were transported to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center. The gunshot victim’s wounds are not thought to be life-threatening, Howerton said. The other man was taken for a psychiatric evaluation.