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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Deaths probed in Latah County

Associated Press The Spokesman-Review

MOSCOW, Idaho – A death described as suspicious in Deary and a fatal shooting followed by an apparent suicide attempt in Troy are under investigation, Latah County sheriff’s deputies said.

A relative of Patrick Wayne “Pat” Harrington found him dead early Sunday morning at his home in Deary, about 20 miles east of Moscow, under circumstances deputies said were “suspicious.”

There was no obvious indication of how Harrington died, Prosecutor William W. Thompson Jr. said. Sheriff’s Detective Tim Besst said the Idaho State Police were handling the investigation.

The dead man’s brother, Bert Harrington, of Coeur d’Alene, told the Lewiston Tribune that investigators who informed him of his brother’s death gave no details.

He said Pat was the third brother he had lost in a decade since one, Walter Harrington, was shot to death when a drug deal went bad in Mobile, Ala.

“We all pretty much played in the dope world,” Bert Harrington said, “but I’m born again now.”

He said Pat Harrington had many health problems that required various prescription medications, but the brother added that he didn’t know specifics of those conditions.

In an earlier death, deputies said Jeremiah Johnson, 23, was fatally shot in the head before his body was found early Saturday morning in Troy, about 10 miles east of Moscow.

A juvenile who apparently shot himself in the head as part of the same episode is expected to survive after being taken first to Gritman Medical Center in Moscow and then to Kootenai Medical Center in Coeur d’Alene, authorities said.

State and municipal police were assisting in the investigation.

Sheriff’s deputies would not give the name of the surviving teenager, but the Lewiston Tribune identified him as Zach Frederickson, 17. He and Johnson both were graduates of Troy High School, and Frederickson was an offensive and defensive lineman on the school’s football team, the newspaper reported.