Neighbors aid shooting victim

What some Logan Neighborhood residents thought were post-Independence Day fireworks Saturday afternoon were in fact gunshots that sent a man to the hospital.

Spokane police were investigating the incident, which happened in a parking lot along East Illinois Avenue near North Hamilton Street shortly after 4:30 p.m. The unidentified victim’s injuries did not appear to be life-threatening, said police Cpl. Jordan Ferguson.

A lone bullet hole and splatters of blood marked the side of a car in the lot where witnesses said an unidentified man fired three shots with a handgun, hitting the victim once in the left arm.

Witnesses said the victim, a man in his late 20s or early 30s, was talking with the shooter before he opened fire. The shooter then got into a car – described by police dispatchers as possibly a white Dodge Stratus – and headed eastbound on Illinois. There were as many as three other men in the car.

The victim managed to get to the adjacent house, 911 E. Illinois Ave., where neighbors came to his aid.

Neighbor David Alviar, 58, said his 6-year-old grandson was playing nearby when the child saw “the guy pull out the gun and shoot the man.”

Rob Bedford was working in his front yard when he heard the shots and saw smoke in the parking lot.

“It’s definitely a little bit of a shock,” said Bedford, 30.

Police shut down part of the street for a time to examine the scene.