Police say man supplied weapon
Sheriff’s detectives Monday arrested a Spokane Valley man believed to have supplied the gun and drugs involved in the slaying of a man whose charred body was found Aug. 14 in what appeared to be a campfire near Newman Lake.
Court documents identify the man as Andrew King Salmon, 34, 18410 E. Mission Ave. He was booked on suspicion of possessing drugs with intent to deliver and second-degree illegal possession of a firearm.
Officers seized two handguns, $5,550 in cash and a large amount of drugs from Salmon’s home Monday.
According to a search warrant affidavit, murder suspect Christopher James Hall, 32, said Salmon “fronted” him a half-pound of methamphetamine so he could sell it to the victim, 42-year-old Craig Alan Schiering. The other murder suspect, 22-year-old Ezra M. Jensen, claimed Salmon also gave Hall a pistol that Hall used to shoot Schiering.
But other court documents say Hall claimed it was Jensen who shot Schiering on Aug. 11. Jensen allegedly acknowledged that he and Hall had planned to rob Schiering of the $4,700 that Schiering was going to pay for the meth.
After the killing, Hall allegedly told detectives, Jensen took Schiering’s money, leaving Hall to explain to Salmon “how he had lost the methamphetamine and the money,” Monday’s affidavit said.
– John Craig
spokane county
Today is deadline to vote in primary
Today is the last day for Washington voters to cast a ballot in the primary election.
Ballots must be postmarked by today if they are returned by mail, or dropped off at voter service centers set up by county elections offices. In Spokane County, those service centers are:
•County Elections Office, 1033 W. Gardner Ave.
•North Spokane Library, 44 E. Hawthorne Ave.
•St. Mark’s Church, 316 E. 24th Ave.
•Spokane Valley CenterPlace, 2426 N. Discovery Place.
•St. Anne’s Church, 712 E. Lake, Medical Lake.
Results will be posted at www.spokesmanreview.com beginning about 8 p.m.
– Jim Camden
Kootenai county
Police say pickup hit moving train; 2 dead
The bodies of two people were discovered Monday in a pickup near a Hayden Avenue train crossing, according to Idaho State Police.
Investigators said it appears the 1989 Mazda ran into the moving train at a crossing on Hayden Avenue, just west of Highway 41.
The passenger was identified as 29-year-old Jesse Neff, of Pinehurst. Authorities had yet to notify the driver’s family and had not released the victim’s name Monday evening.
Investigators believe the crash happened late Sunday or early Monday. Idaho State Police Capt. Wayne Longo said the pickup was forced about 100 feet into a field. The pickup stayed on its wheels and the damaged front end wasn’t facing the freeway, Longo said. Longo said the train crew apparently did not know the wreck had occurred.
– Taryn Brodwater