Alleged shooter charged with attempted murder

A Spokane man faces a first-degree attempted murder charge for what detectives call a retaliatory shooting.

Eugene “Low Key” McVay, 30, appeared in Spokane County Superior Court this week. McVay is accused of luring Donald L. Dyson to the Boulder Beach area on July 12 and firing six shots at him from a handgun, striking Dyson once in the leg.

On the night of the shooting, Dyson got a text message from a female he knows as Roxanne, according to court documents, inviting him to hang out at Boulder Beach. But when Dyson arrived, McVay came out of the bushes, holding a handgun “gangster style” and shot him, the documents said.

On July 10, two days before the shooting, police say Dyson was involved in a fight with McVay and McVay’s associate, Odell Champion, at Jax Foods at 3019 E. Mission Ave., in which he cut Champion’s throat from ear to ear. Dyson had armed himself with a knife after he accidentally sent an insulting text message to McVay’s girlfriend, according to court documents.

Dyson, who fled before police arrived, later received text messages from McVay indicating McVay put a hit out on Dyson and that Dyson was “dead,” according to the documents.

Dyson said McVay, who made numerous threats, tried to get gang members to assault him. The two were friendly associates for months before the stabbing because their girlfriends are friends.

At Boulder Beach, McVay fired at least six times from 10 to 15 feet away, Dyson told police, striking Dyson with the fifth round in the lower right leg. Police say Dyson was uncooperative when they interviewed him at Providence Holy Family Hospital, where he went for treatment of the gunshot wound.

McVay’s history includes two felony convictions, two misdemeanors and 10 failures to appear in court. He’s being held on $200,000 bond in the Spokane County Jail.

Dyson faces a first-degree assault charge for the attack on Champion. He also faces two counts of first-degree assault for a separate stabbing outside the Special K Tavern at 3817 N. Market St. on Sept. 8.