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

Man injured in north Spokane shooting; suspect arrested

Blood stains remained at Keri Paul’s back door hours after the victim of a shooting near her home ran there for help about 2 a.m. Friday, July 29, 2016. The victim was hospitalized and a shooter was arrested, police said. (JONATHAN GLOVER / SR)

A man was shot early Friday near Glass Park in northeast Spokane.

Police were called to the area near Cincinnati Street and Rich Avenue just before 2 a.m. after receiving multiple calls reporting hearing several gunshots and people running from the scene, according to court documents.

Mark A. Thompson, 60, is being held in the Spokane County Jail on $250,000 bond on suspicion of first-degree assault.

A neighbor who lives near the intersection said she heard about 10 shots in rapid succession before a man showed up at her back door.

“We heard the shots, 30 seconds later a guy knocks on our back door saying ‘I’ve been shot,’ bleeding all over the place,” said Keri Paul, 56, adding that she didn’t get a good look at the man, but estimated him to be in his late teens or early twenties.

“There’s still blood on the back door,” she said.

Uncertain if the man or others outside posed a threat, Paul and her 22-year-old daughter decided not to let the man in their home, and instead called police. Moments later, they witnessed groups of people walking east, away from the intersection where the shots reportedly occurred.

“They definitely weren’t playing ‘Pokemon Go,’ ” she said.

The wounded man told police he had approached Thompson to ask if he had any jumper cables. He told witnesses Thompson was rude to him and the man returned to Thompson’s house in the 4300 block of North Cincinnati with several people.

Neighbors told police there was an argument and Thompson was aiming a gun with a laser sight at several people before Thompson appeared to be hit in the back of the head with something. A witness told police Thompson came up firing and the wounded man was hit twice in the buttocks as he ran away, according to court documents.

The victim was transported to a local hospital with injuries that aren’t considered life-threatening, police said. Investigators recovered a .45 handgun and a .380 handgun as well as 11 .380-caliber cartridges at the scene, according to court documents.

Police had responded to Thompson’s home around 8:30 p.m. on Thursday after a neighbor reported Thompson was walking around in the street waving an oar at passing cars. Thompson reportedly told the officers he had moved back to Spokane two weeks ago and was upset that his old neighborhood had turned “into a ghetto” and cars were speeding down the street, court documents state.

Officers warned Thompson about his behavior. He was armed with a .45-caliber handgun at the time, but Thompson has no felony convictions and was released after his warning, according to court documents.