Man dead in Coeur d’Alene officer involved shooting

Friday was graduation day for Coeur d’Alene High School, so when neighbors heard a string of rapid fire popping sounds in their quiet neighborhood they assumed it was celebratory fireworks. Shortly after 9 p.m. Friday Coeur d’Alene police fatally shot a man in his 20s in his neighbor’s back yard in the 400 block of Dragonfly Drive. Neighbors said police had been called because the man, who was believed to be drunk, had gotten in a loud argument with a family member. “It was a horrible evening. You could just hear the family wailing,” said neighbor Jennifer Robinett, of the shooting’s aftermath. Police had released little information by Saturday afternoon, leaving neighbors looking for answers. Robinett said her son grew up with the younger brother of the man who was shot. They comforted the younger brother in the street when he collapsed after hearing the news. “We embraced him, my son and I,” she said. “He was just bawling.” The man said that police told him his brother had pulled a gun on an officer and may have fired a shot, Robinett said. Her family knew the young man who died, she said. “He was always really quiet,” Robinett said. “He was never the type to cause any trouble.” Several neighbors said the man who died had a young child. Kimberly Lucero was tucking her daughter into bed when she heard the rapid succession of gunshots. “There was a lot,” she said. One bullet hit the house next to hers, which is right across the street from where the shooting occurred, Lucero said. “It could have gone through our house,” she said. The Idaho State Police is handling the investigation. Coeur d’Alene police officers typically wear body cameras.