Court documents shed light on I-90 road-rage shooting; alleged shooter held on $1 million bond

The fatal shooting and crash last week on Interstate 90 in Spokane Valley started near downtown Spokane and involved three vehicles, with the suspect’s 9-year-old daughter inside one, according to court documents.

Treven F. Lewis, 28, made his first court appearance Thursday on suspicion of second-degree murder. A judge set his bond at $1 million.

Nicole Wiens told Washington State Patrol her boyfriend, 34-year-old David N. Knoepfle, was following her home after the two had dinner at a Spokane restaurant, according to a WSP probable cause affidavit.

During the drive, Wiens encountered a white four-door Chevy sedan near the intersection of Maple Street and Fifth Avenue. Wiens said either the suspect’s sedan or her vehicle, a silver 2015 Hyundai Sonata, drifted into the other person’s lane. She said in the affidavit the driver of the sedan honked his horn.

Wiens said she got in front of Knoepfle’s vehicle after driving on to I-90, and she was in the far left lane when Lewis caught up to her in the sedan.

Wiens said Lewis was in the center lane when he threw something at her Hyundai. She sped off to get away, according to documents.

She said the sedan then got in front of her in the left lane and started brake-checking her. Wiens then moved to the center lane, and the white sedan slowed, rolled down his passenger window and pointed a black handgun at her.

She said she switched lanes to the right, Knoepfle drove up behind her in his gray 2011 Mitsubishi Lancer and then she heard a pop.

She said Knoepfle was between her and the sedan, and then she lost sight of the two cars. She said she heard at least four gunshots behind her when she was by the pedestrian overpass near Havana Street. She told police she saw Knoepfle’s vehicle crash into a fence.

She told 911 that a white Chevrolet Malibu left the scene. She found Knoepfle and saw blood on his shirt and a bullet hole on his right side.

Knoepfle was pronounced dead at the scene, documents said. The Spokane County Medical Examiner’s Office said Knoepfle died from a gunshot wound to his back.

One bullet struck the right rear door of the vehicle Knoepfle was driving, according to documents.

WSP located six 9 mm Luger casings on the right shoulder of the freeway. The casings were found 1.3 miles from where Knoepfle died.

The original 911 caller told police she was a passenger in a truck on eastbound I-90 when she saw three vehicles racing and one vehicle shooting at another. She said she saw flashes come out of the driver’s window of one of the cars.

She said she did not see a gun but believed it was gunfire from the sound and the flashes. She reported six gunshots coming from a light-colored vehicle.

A woman told police she worked with Lewis’ wife Saturday evening and that she was distraught. She said his wife admitted to her that Lewis was the shooter from the freeway the previous night.

The woman said Lewis’ wife told her Lewis used her gun and that he was trying to protect the children in the vehicle as the other car was trying to run him off the road, the affidavit said. Lewis told his wife to “take the fall” and say she was the driver, since she did not have any felonies on her record, the woman told police.

Lewis checked in with Department of Corrections the day of the shooting, documents said. He was with his wife and a silver 2014 Chevrolet Malibu.

Lewis was sentenced in 2014 to 10 years in prison after fatally punching 65-year-old Vietnam veteran Frank Motta at a 2012 party. Lewis was released from custody in 2021.

Authorities arrested Lewis Wednesday, according to a WSP news release.

Drive-by shooting and unlawful possession of a firearm charges were also listed for Lewis on the Spokane County Superior Court website. He is scheduled for an arraignment Aug. 2 in front of Judge Michael Price. Lewis remained in Spokane County Jail Thursday night.