Police confirm officer-involved shooting at Cenex station

A man was taken to a hospital after two Spokane police officers fired on him at a gas station on Division Street on Saturday afternoon. Witnesses said the man was armed with a knife and trying to force his way into a car parked at a gas pump.

Spokane interim police Chief Rick Dobrow said dispatchers received numerous 911 calls around 12:30 p.m. Saturday notifying them of a man acting erratically and displaying a knife near Division and North River Drive near the Spokane River.

Witnesses said the man was trying to stop cars heading south on Division. Philip Rush was having lunch in the Wendy’s restaurant across from the gas station and saw the man trying to get into cars. When police confronted him he ran into the gas station parking lot, Rush said.

Rush said the man was trying to get into a green SUV when he was shot by police.

Dobrow said two officers fired at the man. Their names have not been released.

The man who was shot also has yet to be named. He was reported to be in critical condition Saturday afternoon.

“He was apparently talking and appeared to be communicative” after the shooting, Dobrow said.

The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office will lead the investigation of the shooting.