Arrests in shootings follow fire

Following a devastating Spokane Valley house fire Tuesday, four people were arrested in connection with three drive-by shootings

Spokane Valley firefighters were called to a home in the 12000 block of East Alki after a fire broke out in the basement and left at least nine people homeless and the family dog dead.

As firefighters worked to douse the blaze, Spokane Valley police detectives arrived and began making arrests, which appeared to be unrelated to the fire. At least one of the home’s residents was taken away in handcuffs.

Stephanie Starchman and eight other people, including her teenage children and a son-in-law, were forced by fire from their split-level home, south of North Pines Middle School, around 8:30 a.m.

“She thought someone was burning something in the kitchen,” said Starchman’s 17-year-old son, Jessie. “I screamed, ‘No it’s a fire, and everybody has to get out.’ “

The home was engulfed when firefighters arrived, said Bill Clifford, a Valley fire inspector.

As firefighters began to mop up the blaze, detectives started their search.

Four suspects connected to the home signed confessions stating they had been involved in three drive-by shootings and directed police to a nearby trash bin, where they found a gun, said Sgt. Steve Barbieri of the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office.

Robert Garwood, Sean T. Smith, Nicole Crispina and a minor, whose name was not released, were arrested in connection with the shootings, Barbieri said.

Bullets hit a house on Barker Road on Sunday, and homes in the 15000 block of East 12th Avenue and the 13000 block of East 32nd Avenue were in the line of fire Thursday, Barbieri said.

“I’m concerned somebody’s going to shoot one of the kids,” said Renai Durst, who lives in a house on 32nd Avenue.

The window and wall of her living room bore four small holes, including one just feet from a couch where Durst said her daughter was sleeping.

“It’s not like it’s easy to raise kids, but this is extreme,” she said.

Durst and her neighbors said they were at a loss as to why the house would have been a target.

On Thursday, a car slowed on the usually busy 32nd Avenue, and five shots rang out through the south edge of Spokane Valley just before midnight, neighbor Milinda Paquette said.

“That’s the kind of thing you expect in Portland or California, but not around here,” she said.

Durst’s two teenage children have never been in any serious trouble, Durst said, and they told her they didn’t know why someone would want to shoot at their house.

Confessions from the four suspects indicate the motive for the shootings varied and weren’t issues serious enough to merit shooting someone, Barbieri said.

“Something to do with a girl- friend and something to do with a dog,” he said.

As of about 6 p.m. Tuesday, however, police hadn’t had a chance to present the information from the confessions to those who reported their homes had been shot.

“For all we know, it was random,” Barbieri said.

It’s also unclear whether the fire was related either to the shootings or to the fact police were on the way to the home to talk to the suspects at the time the blaze broke out.

“(The suspects) said one didn’t have anything to do with the other. We’re kind of working on that,” Spokane Valley Police Chief Cal Walker said.

“There are some unanswered questions,” he said.

Police said no one was injured in the shootings or the fire. The home and its contents appeared to be a total loss.