Crime-Spree Suspect’S Condition Improved Lefebvre Listed In Satisfactory Condition; Details Of Standoff Investigated

A man who was critically wounded in an armed stand off with police Friday was in satisfactory condition Monday with two bullet wounds in his lower torso.

Spokane Valley resident Douglas J. Lefebvre is expected to face a variety of robbery and assault charges in Spokane and Stevens counties for the three-day crime spree that led to his shooting.

Lefebvre, 41, was shot Friday afternoon after a 5-1/2-hour standoff on a Stevens County road four miles south of Chewelah. A Spokane County sheriff’s tactical team, called in by the Stevens County sheriff, advanced on Lefebvre when he sat down and appeared to lower his guard.

The suicidal suspect jumped to his feet, armed with a large-caliber revolver, and was shot with a nonlethal “beanbag” shotgun round.

Details of what followed remain under investigation, but Spokane sheriff’s Lt. David Wiyrick said officers believed Lefebvre recovered from the beanbag blast and “was bringing his firearm up to bear when he was shot with regular ammunition.”

It appears that a single officer fired the 10 mm semiautomatic pistol rounds that struck Lefebvre, Wiyrick said. The identity of the officer, who is on routine administrative leave, was being withheld temporarily.

Spokane County sheriff’s deputies began looking for Lefebvre Tuesday when his wife reported he was suicidal.

Authorities say he later led officers on a 100 mph chase through the Spokane Valley and escaped on foot when his vehicle became high-centered.

Police said he then stole a pickup truck at gunpoint and went to Chewelah. There, Lefebvre allegedly robbed a tavern and shot at police when the pursued him.

Police said Lefebvre again escaped on foot when his stolen vehicle quit running, and apparently walked a dozen or so miles cross-country to the point where he was surrounded and shot Friday.

Investigators so far have not been able to confirm a relative’s report that Lefebvre was involved in a similar standoff years ago in Arizona, Wiyrick said. However, Arizona correctional authorities said Lefebvre was never an inmate in one of that state’s prisons.

He has no felony conviction in Washington, either, but Spokane County court records show he was arrested Nov. 13, 1995, on suspicion of burglary.

The case was closed when the prosecutor’s office failed to file charges within 72 hours.

That was about a month after Lefebvre was fired from a construction job. Spokane-area contractor Franklyn Hauck said in court documents that he fired Lefebvre a day after Lefebvre “verbally harassed” him and called co-workers “morons.”

Hauck twice sought protection orders against Lefebvre after the former employee made threatening remarks and harassed Hauck’s customers and employees. Both petitions were dismissed after Hauck and Lefebvre failed to show up in court.

At the time Lefebvre was fired, Hauck said, he threatened to ruin Hauck’s business and he told Hauck he would have plenty of time while unemployed to “make you pay.”

Later, Hauck said in a court document, Lefebvre attempted to run his vehicle off the road and threatened to kill him and his family and his employees.

Hauck could not be reached for comment.

Lefebvre’s wife, Jackie Lefebvre, 34, said in court documents that she also feared for her life when she filed for a protection order on May 27, 1997. She said her husband had been upset and abusive for several days because of a cracked windshield in his truck.

On the second day of his rampage, he talked about suicide and began drinking at noon “and kept up all day.” She said she took a few personal belongings the next morning and fled the house with her three sons, now ages 14, 13 and 3.

Three months earlier, Jackie Lefebvre said, her husband ripped the telephone cord out of the wall and sat on her when she attempted to call police. She said he came home drunk and they quarreled until she became afraid and tried to call for help.

She said Lefebvre also used to harass his ex-wife in Phoenix and had a history of abusing her.

“Doug has a explosive temper (and) a history of drug abuse (and) drinking,” Jackie Lefebvre wrote in her petition for a protection order. “The children fear verbal and physical abuse not only for themselves (but) also for me.”

She has declined to be interviewed.