Pair arrested at apartment after gunshot narrowly misses man

A predawn shooting at a north Spokane apartment building on Saturday resulted in the arrest of a man and woman four hours later, with the assistance of a SWAT team.

The ordeal began at 2:56 a.m. when Spokane police responded to a report of a shot fired at 6900 N. Wiscomb, according to Officer Jon Strickland, a police spokesman.

Two men said they were outside the door of Apartment No. 2 where they had gone to recover money they had paid to a resident for a computer that turned out to be defective, Strickland said.

The two men were banging on the door when a bullet came through the wall and missed the head of one of them by inches. The bullet continued into the neighboring apartment, where a woman was sleeping, then passed through her closet and embedded in a kitchen cabinet.

The men left and called police, who were unable to persuade anyone inside to answer the door.

After deciding the situation was dangerous, supervising officers requested the assistance of SWAT team members, who threw a telephone through the bedroom window.

“That got the people inside to acknowledge us,” Strickland said.

A man and a woman came out of the apartment about 7:30 a.m. and were arrested by detectives, who had obtained a search warrant.

Carl R. Bucknell, 26, and Natile Hernandez, 22, were booked into the Spokane County Jail on first-degree assault charges, Strickland said. Detectives found a .380-caliber semiautomatic pistol and a rare .45-caliber revolver with a 1920 registration.

Also found were numerous baggies containing marijuana and methamphetamine, one bag of psilocybin mushrooms and $400. Detective said a video surveillance system made it possible for the apartment residents to view anyone at their front door, Strickland said.

Strickland said the investigation is continuing and further charges against Bucknell and Hernandez were possible.