In brief: One person dies in apartment fire
An apartment fire in Spokane’s Browne’s Addition claimed one person’s life and sent a woman to the hospital Sunday night.
The fire quickly engulfed the 11-unit complex on the West 1900 block of First Avenue, near the intersection with Cannon Street, witnesses at the scene said.
Neighbor Melissa Bretz said she saw a woman climb out of a second-story window onto an outside awning to escape the fire. She said she could see other people inside the building.
Nine of the apartments were occupied, the fire department said, and 12 people were evacuated from the building.
Spokane Fire Department Chief Bobby Williams confirmed that there was one fatality. The identity of the deceased person and the cause of the fire were unavailable at press time.
I-90 chase ends with crash, arrest
A man was arrested without incident late Sunday after leading law enforcement on a high-speed chase on Interstate 90 in a red Camaro then fleeing on foot after he crashed the car into the highway median just west of Four Lakes.
Scanner traffic indicated that the eastbound chase reached speeds of 110 mph before the driver hit a spike strip placed just east of the Salnave Road overpass.
After hitting the spike strip, the driver lost control of the car and crashed into the median. He then took off running, scaling the fence on the north side of the interstate and disappearing into the sagebrush.
Spokane County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Dave Reagan said the chase started in Lincoln County before crossing into Spokane County.
Reagan added that the suspect was suicidal and law enforcement at the scene later confirmed that the suspect was armed.
Officers on foot and a K-9 unit were searching for the suspect when the Spokane Sheriff’s Department’s helicopter was called in around 6 p.m.
Washington State Patrol Trooper Troy Briggs said the man was found about 10 p.m. on Four Lakes Road.
Fire burning in Tumwater Canyon
A small fire burning six miles northwest of Leavenworth, Wash., is 40 percent contained, fire officials said in a press release Sunday.
The Tumwater Canyon fire has scorched 254 acres in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest and is burning in steep, rugged terrain south of the Wenatchee River Bridge in a mix of grass, shrub and conifer vegetation.
About 250 firefighters are focusing on keeping the blaze out of private timber lands.
Boy, 5, killed at motocross race
EPHRATA, Wash. – Grant County authorities say a 5-year-old boy who was watching a motocross race in Ephrata was killed when he was struck by a motorcycle.
Grant County Undersheriff Dave Ponozzo said 29-year-old motocross rider John J. Smith lost control of his motorcycle while racing at Ephrata Raceway Park on Saturday evening. Smith became separated from the motorcycle, which struck the boy.
Ponozzo identified the boy Sunday afternoon as Kaiden R. Henley, of East Wenatchee.
He said the boy was sitting on a bicycle watching the race with his family from the track’s inner field. The race happened on a dirt field inside the track.
The boy died Saturday night at Columbia Basin Hospital in Ephrata.
3 shot, 1 stabbed in fight at fair
BELLINGHAM – Police said three people were shot and a fourth person was stabbed when a fight broke out Saturday night at the Northwest Washington Fair in Lynden, north of Bellingham.
Lynden police Chief Jack Foster said Sunday that a 15-year-old male suspect was arrested at the fairgrounds and booked into juvenile detention on investigation of attempted murder and assault.
Bail was set at $500,000.
The police chief said the four victims ranged in age from 18 to 23.
They were taken to PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center in Bellingham.
A nursing supervisor on Sunday morning said two people were treated and released, and two are in satisfactory condition.
Foster said the shooting appears to be gang-related. Police recovered a handgun.
Governor’s mother dies after fall
Kathleen Helen Schweitzer, the mother of Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer and the daughter of Montana homesteaders, died Sunday. She was 83.
She died following a fall on Friday morning when she became tangled in her miniature schnauzer’s leash on a visit to the veterinarian in Helena and banged her head, the governor said.
She was initially taken to a hospital in Helena and seemed OK, the governor said, but was later transferred to Benefis Medical System in Great Falls after doctors realized she had suffered a broken blood vessel. She slipped into a coma, from which she didn’t emerge, and died at 12:15 a.m.