Police seek third suspect in carjacking

Dozens of law officers swarmed to the Hangman Valley on Monday night, searching for three men suspected of stealing cars, holding a hostage at knifepoint, robbing a pregnant woman and ramming a Washington State Patrol car.

Police radio traffic during the chase indicated that a patrolman may have fired at least one shot at the fleeing men, but that could not be confirmed Monday night.

By 11 p.m., officers had captured two of the men, including one who was inside a home near Hangman Valley Golf Course and another who got stuck in mud while trying to run across Hangman Creek. It took about a half hour to get the shivering suspect freed from the mud.

The third man was still on the loose, and officers planned to go from home to home, telling people to make sure their doors were locked. Authorities also wanted to make sure no one was being held hostage.

Many area roads were blocked.

The incident started in Spokane Valley about 3:30 p.m., when a man stole a car from Hallmark Hyundai, 8801 E. Sprague. Dealership employees had the thief’s name, and police recognized it as the same man who had threatened police when being stopped by officers twice over the weekend, said Cpl. Dave Reagan, spokesman for the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office and Spokane Valley Police Department. The man, whom police did not identify Monday, had also called and threatened sheriff’s dispatchers recently, Reagan said.

Then, sometime between 4:30 p.m. and 5:40 p.m., a Toyota Camry was stolen from Valley Fitness, at 7 N. Herald. That car later was rolled south of Spokane, at Highway 195 and Stentz Road, Reagan reported.

A good Samaritan who stopped at the rollover was carjacked by three people in the Camry, Reagan reported.

The carjackers drove the victim’s red Jeep – while holding the victim hostage at knifepoint – back to the Valley, to DéjÀ Vu Showgirls at 8722 E. Sprague, Reagan reported. There, the Jeep’s owner either fought his way out of the Jeep, or was thrown out, suffering a minor scrape. The Jeep collided with two other vehicles in the DéjÀ Vu parking lot, Reagan reported.

The carjackers went to an impound lot on Sprague Avenue in the Valley, where the original suspect from the Hyundai theft “raised a fuss” over his own impounded car, according to Reagan.

Sheriff’s deputies had seized the car over the weekend and had it towed to the dealership. Reagan did not know why the car was impounded.

The carjackers left Appleway in the stolen Jeep.

A 21-year-old pregnant woman, who would identify herself to a reporter only as Caitlin, said she was walking on Thorpe Road near Highway 195 when the red Jeep pulled over and someone inside offered her a ride. When she declined, he demanded her purse and threatened her life. The woman, who gave up her purse, said she saw no weapon.

A trooper in an unmarked Washington State Patrol car was positioned nearby, watching for the red Jeep. He saw it, at the intersection of Excelsior Road and Highway 195, and tried to force it to stop. It was unclear whether the two cars collided, or if the trooper intentionally rammed the Jeep, but the patrol car was totaled, Reagan said.

The trooper was uninjured in the collision, which occurred about 9:30 p.m., and the three men ran from the Jeep. It was then that officers communicating by radio said that the trooper had fired a shot.

Officers from the Valley, the city of Spokane, Spokane County Sheriff’s Office and the State Patrol all converged on the scene of the collision and began searching for the carjackers.