Man Shot To Death During Confrontation

A 30-year-old Spokane man was shot to death on the South Hill Sunday morning after he threatened another man with a gun, police said.

Officers found Thomas Felch dead in the doorway of a house on the 2600 block of West 16th Avenue around 1:30 a.m., said Dick Cottam, Spokane Police Department spokesman.

Twice that night, Felch had come to the house and threatened a man living there - a former neighbor of Felch’s. Neighbors said Felch displayed a handgun during the visits, Cottam said.

The two men argued, but Cottam said he didn’t know what about.

The second time Felch visited the house, the man fired some kind of semiautomatic weapon several times, Cottam said.

The man who shot Felch has not been identified. He was taken into custody, questioned and released Sunday morning.

“At this point he is looked at more as a victim than anything else,” Cottam said.

The man called 911 and was waiting for police when they arrived. Police found a handgun on Felch, Cottam said.

“Felch has a history with law enforcement. This was not his first brush with law enforcement,” Cottam said, but he did not provide specifics.

, DataTimes