Suspects arrested in shooting
Police arrested six people involved in the fatal shooting of a young man outside a north Spokane bar early New Year’s Day. Among those arrested Saturday morning was an 18-year-old man, whom detectives identified as the man who fired the handgun.
Calvin Banks, 24, was shot in the chest at about 2 a.m., during a confrontation between two gangs outside the Crazy 8’s bar, 21 E. Lincoln, police said. The single bullet, allegedly fired by Demetrius Route, hit Banks in the heart.
Members of Banks’ gang, originally from Arkansas, then fired at the other group, whom police identified as gang members from Compton, Calif. Both groups fled before a call was made to Spokane police.
After an intense, weeklong investigation that involved the assistance of a gang expert from the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office, Spokane Police Major Crimes Detectives Minde Connelly and Marty Hill learned that seven men and one woman allegedly conspired to go to the bar and assault Banks.
“We feel this crime was not spontaneous,” Sgt. Joe Peterson said during a press conference Saturday afternoon. “It was a planned event … and they conspired to cover up this crime.”
Earlier in the day, detectives obtained a search warrant for a duplex at 2823 E. Nebraska, where they found six of the eight suspects.
Police arrested Route on suspicion of second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree assault. Also booked into jail on charges of conspiracy to commit first-degree assault were: Christopher Route, 18; Cedric Burton, 18; Erick Burton, 19; and Edward L. Thomas, 19.
The resident of the duplex, 21-year-old Crystal Bumpas, was arrested for allegedly rendering criminal assistance.
Police are still seeking Deric Burton, 17, and Marcus L. Jacquette, 21.
Detectives also discovered four handguns hidden in the duplex. Those weapons will be examined to see if one was used in Banks’ killing.
Peterson said detectives worked day and night to track down and interview witnesses, many of whom were uncooperative. The sergeant also tracked down a witness who videotaped the shooting, but has yet to provide the footage to detectives.
Before the New Year’s Day shooting, the two gangs had a long-running dispute that may have started nearly a year ago, Peterson said. The Compton gang drove specifically to the Crazy 8’s bar in search of Banks, he said.
After Banks was hit, his friends returned the gunfire. One of those shots grazed the neck of a young woman who was standing nearby and talking to both groups, police said in earlier interviews. She was treated at a local hospital and released.
“These people coming up to Spokane are endangering us and everyone involved,” Peterson said, noting that there were small children living next door to the duplex where the arrests were made.
He said these gangs come to Spokane to sell illegal drugs, including crack cocaine and methamphetamine.
“Certainly it’s a business,” he said. “There’s drugs, money and lack of competition.”