Homicide suspect passed through area
Police believe man, wanted in shooting deaths of 3, is armed
A man suspected in a triple homicide in Lewis County passed through Spokane about 2:30 p.m. Saturday and possibly stopped at the Chevron gas station at Third Avenue and Monroe Street.
Spokane police believe John Allen Booth Jr., 31, of Onalaska, Wash., is no longer in the area. He is wanted for a shooting that left three dead and one person in critical condition around 2 a.m. Saturday in Salkum, Wash., according to an alert from the Lewis County sheriff.
Lewis County officials tracked Booth’s location to Spokane using a GPS signal from his cell phone.
Jennifer DeRuwe, a Spokane Police Department spokeswoman, said law enforcement did not receive information about Booth in Spokane until 3:30 p.m. Officers searched the area but could not locate him. Just before 6 p.m., a Lewis County spokesman said they believed Booth may be headed back toward the Seattle area.
Employees at the Chevron store said they did not notice anything out of the ordinary about 2:30 p.m. They receive alerts for missing children through their computer system, one employee said, but they received no notice about anyone passing through Saturday.
Booth got out of prison in December and was put on active supervision. The Department of Corrections also has a warrant for his arrest for a probation violation, a Lewis County spokesman said. His criminal history includes assault with a deadly weapon, burglary, possession of stolen firearms and witness tampering, according to the Associated Press.
The Lewis County spokesman described Booth as 6-foot-3 and 190 pounds. He has dark hair, but his head may be shaved. He is thought to be driving a 1998 Dodge Diplomat, either teal or blue, the spokesman said.
Lewis County police believe he is armed. They are offering a $1,000 reward for information that leads to Booth’s location.