South Hill shooting kills one

One man died and another was in critical condition late Tuesday after they were shot in a South Hill business’s basement, which had been converted into an apartment, police said.

Police did not release names of the victims or of a man taken into custody.

The shooting occurred about 6:45 p.m. at 29th Avenue and Regal Street in an apartment below the Studio K lounge, said Spokane police spokesman Cpl. Tom Lee. Next door was a COPS substation, which was empty at the time.

Two women witnessed the shooting, Lee said. Officers responding to a 911 call found the critically wounded man on the base of a ramp outside the apartment’s door.

They used a squad car for cover and dragged the man away from the scene, Lee said. The man was taken to a hospital.

The shooter remained inside but surrendered without resistance, police said.

One of the female witnesses was found trying to hide, Lee said.

An officer on the scene said he had been to the same address before on service calls, Lee said, but the nature of those calls was unclear Tuesday.

While officers worked the crime scene, patrons continued to sip drinks and listen to a woman sing karaoke tunes in Studio K, a wood-paneled bar that takes up most of the first floor of the building.

Bartender Kevin Vandergaag said he heard a few bangs but wasn’t sure if the sound was gunshots. He said that the building owner’s granddaughter had lived with her husband above the bar off-and-on for the past three years, and that an older, heavyset man had lived below for three years. The trio had been permanently banned from the bar for starting fights and causing trouble, he said.

Vandergaag said he was told by the owner of the building that the man who lived below had shot the granddaughter’s husband and another man.