Vet enters hospital with loaded guns

A Gulf War veteran carrying a fully-loaded assault rifle and two handguns arrived at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in northwest Spokane Wednesday morning and said he wanted to be shot by a cop.

However, the on-duty VA police officer spoke to the 36-year-old man – who was a patient at the facility – and talked him into dropping his weapons before any shots were fired, said Alex Benninghoven, chief of police at the VA hospital, located at 4815 N. Assembly.

The man, whom Benninghoven would not name because of his status as a patient, first came to the facility at about 3 a.m. “He said he wanted to see the police officer who was on duty,” Benninghoven said.

The Idaho resident, who was wounded in the Gulf War, arrived in a Toyota Tundra with a Disabled Veteran license plate, Spokane Police spokesman Dick Cottam said.

The administrative official on duty at the hospital told the man that the officer wasn’t at that specific location.

“The man said, ‘Call him, and I’ll be outside,’” Benninghoven said of the man’s statement.

Officer Leon Johnson arrived at the emergency entrance and couldn’t find the man. Johnson then checked the entire facility but could not find the suspect.

The same 36-year-old man returned at about 5 a.m. carrying an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, a 9 mm handgun and a .45-caliber handgun with ammunition and entered the hospital, Benninghoven said.

“Another employee coming to work observed him and notified the VA police officer,” he said.

The hospital administrator called Spokane police to tell them there was a man with weapons at the hospital, Benninghoven said.

Officer Johnson “located the individual and talked him into putting down his AR-15 and the two pistols,” Benninghoven said. “He stated something to the effect that he wanted to pop off some rounds and have an officer shoot him. He wanted suicide by cop.”

Johnson, who has been employed at the hospital for three years, calmly talked to the man for several minutes to get him to comply, Benninghoven said.

It took about 15 or 20 minutes to negotiate the peaceful settlement, Benninghoven said. Just as the man started to comply, Spokane police officers began arriving out front.

Johnson “was very professional and did an outstanding job. He took all the steps to ensure the safety of the employees and of the patient,” Benninghoven said.

Officer Johnson took the man into custody and turned him over to Spokane police. The man was later transported to Sacred Heart Medical Center for a mental evaluation, Cottam said.

The patient faces federal charges of carrying weapons and ammunition onto a federal facility along with whatever charges the city might assign, Benninghoven said.

At no time during the incident did the patient point any of his weapons at anyone, he said.

“Had he become a threat, (Johnson) would have responded,” Benninghoven said.