In Brief: Blaze claims mobile home
Fire destroyed the inside of a boarded-up, singlewide mobile home in east central Spokane Saturday evening.
It took about 10 minutes for crews to extinguish the blaze in the home, which was parked in a gravel parking lot next to railroad tracks at 700 N Fiske St., said Ken Kirsch, Spokane Fire Department battalion chief. Kirsch said he didn’t know what started the fire, who owned the structure or how long it has been there.
No one was injured, but the fire consumed chairs, cardboard boxes and large paint cans. Fire crews also ripped off the scant siding that remained on the home, exposing blackened insulation.
Orofino, Idaho
Deaths called murder-suicide
In what police are calling an apparent murder-suicide, an Orofino, Idaho, mother and her 18-year-old son were found dead in their home Saturday night.
Orofino police found Lisa Marie Hiskett, 42, and her son Justin Michael Hiskett dead with gunshot wounds about 8:05 p.m. The weapon also was found in the home.
Witnesses reported hearing multiple gunshots and seeing a woman running from the house, screaming. A press release from the police department said that a 14-year-old female left the house during the shooting.
Orofino police Chief Ron Pomerinke said the deaths remain under investigation.
Anyone with information is asked to call Pomerinke at (208) 476-5551.
Seattle
Seattle monorail stalls again
The off-again, on-again Seattle monorail stalled Saturday afternoon, less than a week after its last malfunction. The second train came to pick up the stranded passengers, who were stuck for about 30 minutes.
The so-called blue train stalled just before 5 p.m. at Fifth Avenue and Denny, near the Seattle Center – about 50 feet from where the same train stalled last Sunday.
The cause of the stall was not immediately determined. Calls to the monorail operators were not returned.
The monorail resumed service Aug. 11 after being out of commission for nine months following a collision of the two trains on a tight turn.
The one-mile line between the Seattle Center and the downtown Westlake Center carries about 2 million passengers a year.
REDMOND, Wash.
Shop owner held in card skim case
A smoke-shop owner accused of copying customers’ debit and credit cards and then stealing money from them has been charged with theft and possession of stolen property.
Investigators believe Hrant “Mike” Aslanyan, 35, of Redmond, and others used an electronic skimming device to steal credit- and debit-card information from customers, and then used the information to withdraw thousands of dollars from bank machines.
In charging papers, investigators said they believe more than $100,000 has been stolen from victims and that Aslanyan was part of a criminal organization operating in Washington, California, Oregon and Nevada.
Stacey Holland, a Redmond police spokeswoman, said at least 150 potential victims have come forward.
Aslanyan, owner of the Smoker’s Choice Plus store in a strip mall in this east Seattle suburb, was ordered held on $1 million bail. He was charged Friday in King County Superior Court with four counts each of second-degree theft and second-degree possession of stolen property.
He’s scheduled to be arraigned Aug. 28.