Man Shot In Leg After Fight, Chase Drive-By Shooting Near North Central High
A man visiting Spokane was wounded in a drive-by shooting Thursday morning, several hours after he was involved in a fight with three other men.
The incident occurred at 6:15 a.m. just a few blocks from the Spokane Arena and North Central High School.
The 19-year-old victim, who lives in Cerritos, Calif., was shot once in the thigh.
The man, who wasn’t identified, apparently was visiting a friend, police said. There is no evidence he belongs to a gang, police Lt. Jerry Oien said.
No one else was hurt, but police found three bullet holes in a nearby apartment building where at least one family is living. Witnesses said three to six shots were fired in the attack.
Oien, head of the city’s Major Crimes Unit, called the shooting “an outrage” and said it was lucky someone else wasn’t hurt or killed.
“These bullets don’t stop at the curb line,” he said. “Some innocent guy blocks away is going to take a bullet before long.”
Police were looking for the suspects late Thursday.
The shooting apparently stemmed from an altercation nearly four hours before, witnesses said.
About 2 a.m., four men in a white Chevrolet Chevette or Citation pulled up in front of the apartment house in the 1300 block of North Howard and began arguing in loud voices.
They got out of the car at one point, and two of them - including the man who eventually was shot - got into a fistfight, witnesses said.
The 19-year-old ran away, and the other three got back into the car and pursued him around the area for several hours.
They finally caught up with him near the apartment building about 6:15 a.m., police said, and someone in the car opened fire with a handgun.
The car, which had temporary license tags, then sped away.
The neighborhood where the shooting took place went to seed a few years ago and now is the province of drug dealers and vagrants, some residents said.
Pushers prowl the corners at all hours and harass kids, said one woman, who didn’t want to give her name for fear of retaliation.
“It used to be a good neighborhood, but not anymore,” said the woman, adding she plans to move soon.
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