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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

South Hill shooting took place in kitchen

Wife says shooter was a stranger

Spokane police gather outside the home in which an intruder shot and killed a resident on Spokane’s South Hill on Sunday. (Dan Pelle)
Moments before he was shot to death, Doug Carlile tried to divert the attention of the man who killed him away from his startled wife, according to court documents filed Wednesday. Carlile’s wife told police that the couple had just returned home when an intruder confronted Doug Carlile in the kitchen. Already at the top of the stairs, the wife returned to the kitchen, where she saw a white man she didn’t recognize, clad in all black and wearing gloves, pointing a gun at her husband. The shooter’s head turned. Doug Carlile said to the gunman, “Don’t do anything,” as she turned and ran back upstairs, gunfire ringing through the house. The first details of a fatal shooting that sent dozens of police officers to a quiet South Hill neighborhood shortly after 7 p.m. Sunday were revealed in a search warrant filed in court Wednesday afternoon. Officers said when they arrived at the three-story home at 2505 S. Garfield Road, Doug Carlile, 63, already lay dead from gunshot wounds in his kitchen. Carlile’s wife was the only other person in the home, according to investigators. Fresh footprints were found in the backyard mud of the house near Hutton Elementary School, but a search with a police dog proved unsuccessful Sunday night and early Monday. Police have indicated they are looking for a white Dodge van captured on surveillance video they think is connected to the crime. They have also asked anyone who did business with Carlile, a prolific entrepreneur who had business listings as far east as Iowa, to file a report with the department. Investigators recovered multiple casings from the scene and several stray bullets, one lodged in a kitchen wall and another from inside a popcorn popper. Also found were two handguns, though neither were located near Carlile’s body, according to the search warrant. The wife, who was found hiding in an upstairs bedroom closet, informed the police of the shooting by calling 911. Police have said they do not think the shooting was a random attack and say Carlile was likely targeted by his killer. No persons of interest have been officially identified in the case.