Region in brief: Woman arrested in roommate’s death
A shooting two blocks from where Sen. Hillary Clinton held a campaign event in Spokane on Friday left one woman dead and another charged with murder.
A man called police about 4:20 p.m. and said one roommate had shot another at 1902 W. Sharp. A 44-year-old woman, who has not been identified, was found shot to death at the address, said Spokane police spokeswoman Officer Jennifer DeRuwe.
Detectives booked Natalie Orth, 25, into Spokane County Jail on a charge of first-degree murder. Police were searching the home for evidence late Friday.
Detectives were unsure about the relationship between Orth, the victim and the witness.
Orth was sitting in a back bedroom when police arrived.
The house has been the scene of two arson fires, including one last summer.
– Staff reports
Man accused of September shooting
Spokane resident Titus T. Davis was arrested on a first-degree murder charge Friday in the Sept. 14 shooting death of Adama Walton.
Davis, 31, has been booked into Spokane County Jail. He is being held on $1 million bail.
Titus is accused of shooting Walton as he was driving away from a late-night party at a home in the 2600 block of North Perry, said Spokane police spokeswoman Officer Jennifer DeRuwe.
Walton, 28, who had been in a gold Chevrolet Avalanche that flipped, died in the street. Police said Walton was a confirmed gang member.
Walton’s friends, who were at the scene, said he had been released from jail just a few days earlier after serving 43 months for possession and delivery of cocaine.
Davis was convicted of second-degree assault and drive-by shooting in March 2000, according to previous news reports.
– Jody Lawrence-Turner
Spokane County
Ham radio operators helping with 911 calls
About 365 households in southeast Spokane County are unable to call 911 because of a problem with Verizon’s land-line phone service, the county said Friday.
Until the problem is fixed, the county will use ham radio operators to help relay emergency calls from fire stations in the Rockford, Waverly, Latah and Fairfield areas.
The affected customers are able to call numbers within their prefix area, but not 911 or any numbers outside the prefix, county spokeswoman Martha Lou Wheatley-Billeter said.
In case of emergency, residents should call their local fire station, where ham radio operators will relay the call to the 911 operator, Wheatley-Billeter said.
“This is the only way we can do it,” she said.
Cell phone customers, including those with Verizon cell service, are not affected.
It isn’t known when the disrupted service will be restored, Wheatley-Billeter said.
– Staff reports