Hunt for shooting suspect ends in arrest

The hunt for a man suspected of shooting his girlfriend in the face ended Monday.

Spokane police found Joshua B. Graham, 30, hiding at a home at 1117 W. Cleveland Ave. after receiving a tip. The Spokane Police Department’s Patrol Anti-Crime Team began doing surveillance Monday morning, police said.

Graham was arrested around 1:40 p.m. under suspicion of first-degree assault and unlawful possession of a firearm, police said.

A second person, Nicholas Wrenn, also was taken into custody on an arrest warrant from the Department of Corrections for robbery.

Police suspect Graham shot his 19-year-old girlfriend, Justine K. Fry, in the face Oct. 1 near Whitman Elementary in north Spokane. The bullet entered her face near her nose and lodged next to her spine, according to court records.

Police said Graham and Fry were in the front yard of 1524 E. Everett Ave. at 2:45 p.m. when a witness driving past saw her bleeding from the face and stopped to help. The witness put the woman into a truck and took her to Providence Holy Family Hospital.

Officers interviewed Fry at Holy Family, and she said Graham shot her. Fry initially “described a scenario as some kind of chaotic fight at the residence wherein she received a gunshot wound,” court records state.

Graham then disappeared, police said. He has previous arrests for armed robbery, drugs, domestic violence and assault.

According to search warrant documents filed last week, Fry apparently first claimed that the shooting was an accident, then told police she initially was trying to protect her boyfriend and told them that she’d been shot during a domestic dispute.

Fry has been released from the hospital.