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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

In brief: Suspect arrested in shooting death

The Spokesman-Review

A man was killed Monday night in a Lewiston shooting, and the accused gunman was arrested after a high-speed chase through Clarkston and Lewiston.

Lewiston police were called to Cedar Avenue and 11th Street about 10:30 p.m. when people reported hearing shots. According to a Lewiston police news release, officers found a man with multiple gunshot wounds.

Michael S. Johnston, 32, of Lewiston, was taken to the hospital, where he later died, police said.

Police had a description of the suspect’s vehicle and, Clarkston police and Asotin County sheriff’s deputies spotted it in Washington about midnight.

The driver fled back over the state line into Lewiston, where Nez Perce County deputies and Lewiston police took up the pursuit.

Officers caught the driver, 31-year-old Leotis B. Branigh III, on the 1800 block of Powers Avenue. He was arrested on suspicion of homicide and booked into the Nez Perce County Jail.

Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness

Air Force rescues injured hiker, 77

An Air Force helicopter on Tuesday rescued a 77-year-old man who was critically injured near the Bitterroot Mountains and had to spend a snowy night there.

Two other men called authorities on a satellite phone – which transmitted coordinates – about 5 p.m. Monday from the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness near Mink Peak in Idaho. The 36th Rescue Flight dispatched a four-man helicopter crew from Fairchild Air Force Base to rescue the man, according to an Air Force news release.

Because of bad weather and dangerous terrain, the Huey crew could not locate the injured man Monday evening. The crew stayed the night in Lewiston and resumed the mission at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, flying to an area at 7,300 feet that had received snow during the night, the release states.

Tech. Sgt. Patrick Hunt was lowered 170 feet to the injured man and stabilized him before he was hoisted up on a stretcher. The crew flew to Lewiston Air Field, and the man was taken to St. Joseph Regional Medical Center, according to the release.

Neither the injured man’s name nor his condition was available late Tuesday. His companions were not injured.

Kootenai County

Two arrests made in robbery at mall

Two people were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of robbing a woman in the parking lot of a Coeur d’Alene mall.

After leaving work at Silver Lake Mall, 200 W. Hanley Ave., about 9 p.m. Monday, Jessica Gale was walking to her car when a man ran at her with a handgun, according to a Coeur d’Alene police news release. He grabbed her jacket and waved the gun in her face, demanding money, police said. Because she did not have any, the man stole her backpack – which contained a laptop – and hopped into a waiting car with a male driver inside, the release said.

Gale gave police a description of the robber and the getaway car. Officers searched the area, finding the vehicle on the 6000 block of North Davenport Street. They also found Gale’s backpack and a realistic BB handgun about a block away, said Sgt. Christie Wood of the Coeur d’Alene Police Department.

“We think they threw them out the car window,” Wood said. “So the computer was totally destroyed.”

Acting on information they gathered Tuesday, police arrested Norman Travis Baxley, 40, and a 17-year-old boy in connection with the robbery. Baxley is suspected to be the robber, according to the release.

Driver hurt in crash into building

A Post Falls woman lost control of her Chevy Camaro early Tuesday and crashed into a commercial building on the corner of Seltice Way and Pleasant View Road.

The driver, 23-year-old Christina A. Hickson, was driving east on Seltice when she drove off the road and hit the building, sending the Camaro onto its top, according to the Idaho State Police.

Both Hickson and her passenger, Joshua G. English, were wearing seat belts. English wasn’t injured, but Hickson was taken to Kootenai Medical Center for treatment.

Cruise will fund sonar equipment

Tickets are still available for Friday’s Gary Fox Memorial Cruise and Wine Tasting on Lake Coeur d’Alene.

Proceeds from the event will be used to purchase equipment to go with the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department’s Side Scan Sonar Unit. The specialized sonar equipment was purchased by the Sheriff’s Department with the help of a $40,000 donation from the friends and family of Gary Fox.

The Spokane Realtor fell off his boat and drowned in April 2006. His body was discovered days later with the help of specialized sonar equipment from Boise.

The Gary Fox Marine Fund was established last September in Fox’s memory.

During Friday’s fundraising cruise, a live feed from the sonar equipment will be broadcast on the cruise ship.

Tickets for the cruise, $50 each, can be purchased at the Coeur d’Alene Resort business office.

Boarding begins at 6 p.m. at the Boardwalk Marina, with departure at 6:30 p.m.

Health District offering flu shots

The Panhandle Health District will offer flu shots at several sites in Kootenai County starting Oct. 12.

Flu shots offer some protection from the virus, which kills 36,000 people in the U.S. and hospitalizes more than 200,000 each year. Good prevention practices include regular hand-washing, covering your cough and sneezing in your sleeve.

People with symptoms – fever, dry cough, sore throat, body aches, malaise – should stay home to protect others from catching the virus, the health district says.

The first series of flu shot clinics will offer an adult vaccine for $25, payable with Medicare, Medicaid, cash or check.

Flu mist for healthy children ages 5 to 18 costs $5. Flu shots for high-risk children ages 6 months to 18 years are available for $5 each. No appointment is necessary.

Clinics are scheduled:

“Oct. 12, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Lake City Senior Center, 1916 N. Lakewood Dr., Coeur d’Alene.

“Oct. 19, 9 a.m. to noon, Rathdrum Senior Center, 8037 W. Montana St., Rathdrum.

“Oct. 19, 1-3 p.m., Spirit Lake Community/Senior Center, 32564 N. Fourth Ave., Spirit Lake.

The Health District will announce more clinics as they’re scheduled. To stay informed, call (208) 415-5299.

New library has raised patronage

The Coeur d’Alene Public Library has seen a surge in visitors since its new downtown building on Front Avenue opened Sept. 10.

Overall library use increased 47 percent, while the number of items checked out rose by a third compared with last September, the library reported. Library staff have issued 1,287 new library cards.

An electronic visitor counter installed last week shows on average 885 people visited the library each day. Daily counts at the Harrison Avenue library averaged 400 to 500 people.

The library’s reading programs for children resume Oct. 16, and a new book discussion group for children ages 9 to 13 began this week.

For information, call (208) 769-2315, ext. 438.

Teen arrested after standoff

A Kootenai County teenager was arrested Monday evening after a standoff with Kootenai County sheriff’s deputies.

According to a news release on the incident, deputies were called to 8199 Coopers Hawk Dr. about 5:40 p.m. after 19-year-old Edward Albert Smith took some pills to try to kill himself, then threatened to hurt himself with a knife.

When a deputy arrived, Smith took off in an SUV and led the deputy on a low-speed chase through the neighborhood before returning home.

Smith’s mother had warned deputies that her son might attempt “suicide by cop.”

He threatened a deputy with the knife, and though his mother had locked the front door of the house, Smith was able to get inside through a back door.

According to Kootenai County sheriff’s deputies, Smith’s mother made her way out of the house and deputies talked to Smith, who left the house and then holed up in a camper trailer in the yard. At one point he showed deputies a rifle that later turned out to be a BB gun.

Smith didn’t aim the gun at deputies, and they eventually convinced him to surrender.

County lifts fire restrictions

Fire restrictions put in place this summer because of dry conditions and extreme fire danger have been lifted in Kootenai County and surrounding areas due to the recent wet weather.

Residents still need to get a burn permit before burning, though, said Gary Darrington, fire warden for the Idaho Department of Lands.

Those permits can be obtained through local fire departments and the Department of Lands.