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

Details emerge in golf club stabbing

A man critically injured last week when he was stabbed with a golf club in Spokane Valley remains hospitalized.

Roger D. Holmes, 42, was stabbed during a fight on June 10 with a resident of a home near 32nd Avenue and Best Road. His condition at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center has been upgraded to serious.

The incident is the second time Holmes has been injured in a stabbing. He also was stabbed in a fight in 2010.

In the most recent case, Holmes and another man who has not been identified are suspected of attacking resident Jake Goolie, 38, according to court records. No arrests have been made and the investigation is continuing. The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office has requested a warrant to obtain Holmes’ medical records.

Goolie told police that Holmes, whom he knows, knocked on his door looking for Goolie’s ex-girlfriend. Holmes, who was accompanied by an unnamed man, left, but returned about a minute later and walked in without knocking, Goolie told police.

Goolie told them to leave.

Goolie then grabbed a 9-iron to defend himself in case the two came back, he told police. About an hour later Holmes returned, again walking in the front door without knocking. Goolie told police he believes the other man climbed in through his mother’s bedroom window. His mother, who was recovering from a recent illness, told police she was sleeping before a noise woke her and she found a strange man in her bedroom.

Goolie told police Holmes threw a rock at him. Goolie hit Holmes with the golf club and it broke. Holmes reportedly hit Goolie several times in the face while Goolie swung the golf club. Goolie later told police that he didn’t remember making stabbing motions with the broken club, according to reports. The unidentified man fled the house and Goolie and Holmes called police.

Holmes was found nearby bleeding from stab wounds to his right arm and his left side.

Both men have criminal records dating back several years. In 2011 Holmes was sentenced to nine months in jail for second-degree assault and residential burglary. The charges were filed after Holmes assaulted a neighbor with a knife in 2010. The neighbor stabbed Holmes with a set of scissors. Both men were wounded in the scuffle.