Man Shot Three Times, Listed In Good Condition No Suspects In Town’s First Shooting In Two Decades

Large white scars left by road flares were all that remained Thursday, a day after police converged on a house to investigate the first shooting here in nearly two decades.

Daniel Leitz, 38, was shot at least three times early Wednesday with a handgun, said Rathdrum police Lt. Alex Carrington. Leitz was listed in good condition Thursday.

Police have no motive or suspects in the shooting. Leitz is expected to be released from Kootenai Medical Center today, police said.

“He said he was sleeping in his chair. He woke up and there was a guy standing over him,” Carrington said. “Another one showed up with a gun. He tried running and got shot.”

Leitz was shot while running out of his house at 758 S. Missouri. The wounded man tried unsuccessfully to rouse neighbors before calling a friend from a phone in his garage.

That friend took Leitz to the hospital. Doctors called police.

The shooting, the first in Rathdrum in at least 18 years, had some neighbors watching unfamiliar cars and strangers more carefully on Thursday.

“I’m sleeping with a loaded gun,” said one neighbor.

That man, who asked not to be identified, said he heard a commotion in front of Leitz’s house early Wednesday, just after he nodded off to sleep.

“I heard two car doors slam,” he said. “A couple minutes later I heard two more car doors slam and the car took off out of here.”

Another neighbor told police he heard men arguing and saw a car leave the area about the time of the shooting.

“We have our ideas, but it’s still under investigation,” Carrington said.

Leitz, who lives alone, told officers he did not recognize the two men. He has not been able to give a description of his assailants, police said.

Police said all of the shots fired appeared to have hit Leitz.

They spent Thursday reviewing evidence they had gathered and planned to re-interview potential witnesses.

Neighbors described Leitz as “quiet” and a man who “keeps to himself.” He repairs and builds motorcycles in a garage next to his house, they said.

“It’s a sad thing,” a neighbor said. “It’s a pretty quiet neighborhood - nice people all around here.”

, DataTimes