In brief: Police: Officers negotiated before shooting suspect

The Spokane Police Department clarified Monday that officers repeatedly negotiated with a robbery suspect while he was just inside the doorway of a home in northwest Spokane. The suspect, Steven Corkery, was shot and killed by police last Wednesday after he came out of the house with a gun in hand and didn’t comply with officers’ orders to drop the weapon, according to department spokeswoman Monique Cotton.

“SPD would like to clarify initial statements made just after the incident regarding timeline of events,” Cotton said in a news release.

At that time, Spokane police Chief Frank Straub said officers “were talking to him in the house, we continued to talk to him when he came out of the house.”

A cellphone video from a bystander shows that Corkery was shot seconds after he left the house.

Cotton said in the news release that officers negotiated with Corkery using the PA system on their police cars, giving repeated verbal commands “while the suspect was inside the home, visible through the doorway and in close proximity to the officers.”

The release said, “Through the course of an investigation, as new information is made available and additional witnesses are interviewed, it is the commitment of SPD to clarify information originally presented, if and when a clarification is necessary.”

Addy Hatch

Man jailed after allegedly pointing gun at woman, boy

Police jailed a 24-year-old Spokane Valley man for allegedly pointing a shotgun at a woman and her young son.

Robert Weathermon thought the two were friends of his attempting to drive away drunk from a party. He is charged with assault with a firearm and was released without bail.

Witnesses said Weathermon attended a party in the 10800 block of East Fairview Avenue in Spokane Valley on Friday night. At around 8:30 p.m., partygoers who had been drinking left the party.

Weathermon grabbed a shotgun that belonged to the party’s host and chased after the people leaving in an attempt to “scare them,” according to court documents.

Instead, he allegedly pointed the weapon at a mother and her 6-year-old son, telling her to get out of the car, the woman told police.When police arrived at the residence to arrest Weathermon, he told them they were there “because I pointed a gun at the wrong person,” according to court documents.

Weathermon said he could not see who was inside the car after he pointed the shotgun and told officers he’d been drinking.

Kip Hill

CdA neighbors seeking limit on Fort Grounds condos

Neighbors who oppose additional condo development in Coeur d’Alene’s historic Fort Grounds will present a petition to the City Council tonight. Ninety homeowners have signed a petition asking the City Council to make the Fort Grounds a single-family neighborhood, according to the Fort Grounds Homeowners Association.

The controversy developed last fall when a 100-year-old home on West Lakeshore was torn down and the owner built four condos on the lot.

The City Council meeting begins at 6 p.m. in the Community Room of the Coeur d’Alene Library, 702 E. Front Ave.

Becky Kramer