Woman armed with fake gun arrested downtown Friday morning

A woman waving a gun was reported in several locations around town Friday morning before police caught up with her in a coffee shop and arrested her.

The first call about the woman the area of Ash and Maxwell, where witnesses said she was aiming a gun at empty cars, said Spokane Police Department spokeswoman Officer Teresa Fuller. The second call came from Bancroft School at 1025 W. Spofford Ave. around 8:40 a.m. Witnesses told police that the woman pointed the gun at an empty car in the parking lot, then left the lot and got on an STA bus.

The next report was that the woman was waving a gun in the air at Post Street and Main Avenue in downtown Spokane. She apparently briefly ran into River Park Square and then went to Indaba Coffee at 210 N. Howard St.

Police evacuated as many people as they could from the coffee shop before confronting the woman, Fuller said. She was arrested without incident.

“It ended up being an Airsoft gun that looked just like a Walther PPK,” Fuller said.

The woman, identified as 22-year-old Leah M. Williams, is facing charges of unlawful carrying of a weapon, disorderly conduct and possession of a weapon on school grounds. Officers reported that the woman appeared to be under the influence, Fuller said.