Shootout suspect held on $1 million bond

An Arizona man wounded in a gun battle early Sunday with police in Kootenai County has been charged with one felony count of eluding a police officer. His bail is set at $1 million. No charges have yet been filed related to the shootout early Sunday morning at a freeway overpass in Post Falls. “The investigation is not complete and we’ll be evaluating other charges,” Kootenai County Prosecuting Attorney Barry McHugh said today. Marcus Anthony Rael, 24, of Glendale, Arizona, remains hospitalized at Kootenai Health. Investigators have not shared details on his injuries. He was listed in stable condition earlier this week. A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for July 3 before Kootenai County District Court Judge Scott Wayman. Rael is represented by attorney Sean Walsh of Anderson Palmer George & Walsh PLLC in Coeur d’Alene. On Wednesday, a detective with the Rathdrum Police Department, working with the North Idaho Critical Incident Task Force, served Rael an arrest warrant charging him with fleeing from Coeur d’Alene Police Officer Gus Wessel when Wessel attempted to pull over Rael’s Nissan Titan pickup truck on Sherman Avenue near Coeur d’Alene Lake Drive. Rael drove the truck “in a manner likely to endanger the safety of” Wessel, according to a criminal complaint filed by the prosecuting attorney’s office. Rael then sped west on Interstate 90 and stopped at the Spokane Street interchange in Post Falls, where he allegedly got out and fired on police about 2 a.m. Twelve officers from four agencies exchanged gunfire with the suspect Six Coeur d’Alene Police officers, three Post Falls Police officers, two Kootenai County Sheriff’s deputies and one Idaho State Police trooper exchanged gunfire with Rael, the sheriff’s office said. All of the officers were placed on paid administrative leave, and their names will be released later, the sheriff’s office said. No officers were injured. Rael first was pulled over on East Sherman Avenue in Coeur d’Alene and fled the scene in his pickup truck, investigators said. Officers pursued him from the Sherman Street exit westbound to the Spokane Street interchange in Post Falls. Little information about the case is being shared at this time due to the complexity of the investigation, the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office said.