Deputy shoots, injures man north of Spokane

A Spokane County Sheriff’s deputy shot a man late Thursday while investigating an earlier shooting in a quiet neighborhood near the Little Spokane River. Sean P. Houlihan, 37, is expected to survive his gunshot wound, which investigators say was inflicted after he opened fire on two sheriff’s deputies near the intersection of Brentwood Drive and Cincinnati Street in north Spokane County. The Washington State Patrol is investigating the shooting with detectives from the Spokane Police Department and the Sheriff’s Office. The deputies, whose names have not been released, were not injured. Investigators have not determined which deputies’ shots struck Houlihan, said Trooper Troy Briggs, spokesman for the State Patrol. Each deputy gave a “tactical interview” about what happened to help investigators gather evidence, but, under sheriff’s office policy, neither will be interviewed extensively until next week, Briggs said. Deputies were called to a home in the 900 block of East Brentwood Drive just before 11 p.m. Thursday for a report of shots fired and a fight between two men. Houlihan’s girlfriend was upstairs with her child when she heard gunshots in the basement and fled the home. She dropped the child off with a friend and returned to talk to deputies, Briggs said. The suspected gunman, Houlihan, had left in a maroon Dodge pickup with a trailer, but he returned while deputies were talking to his girlfriend and the alleged victim, Briggs said. Houlihan refused orders to drop his gun and instead opened fire, according to WSP. The deputies returned fire, striking Houlihan once. Houlihan is under police guard at a downtown Spokane hospital and faces three counts of first-degree assault. Records show Houlihan and his girlfriend, Rebecca Froelich, live at 909 E. Brentwood Dr. He’s lived in New York, Western Washington and Montana and has worked as a flooring installer.