Man shot by Spokane Valley deputy after refusing to drop gun, police say

A Spokane Valley sheriff’s deputy shot a man who refused to drop his gun early Monday, Spokane police said in a news release.

Deputies were called to a duplex unit at 3222 S. Glenn Court just before 2 a.m. to check on a man who was threatening to harm himself in text messages to a friend, according to the news release.

The man was holding a gun when deputies arrived. Police said that deputies gave multiple commands to drop it, but he would not comply.

On Monday afternoon, Larry Everett was cleaning blood stains from the carpet of the living room carpet where the shooting occurred. He identified the man as his son-in-law, Justin Klauba, a chef at the CenterPlace event venue in Spokane Valley.

Everett said his daughter was in bed when police responded to the residence. He said Klauba was shot in the hand with a .45-caliber gun and was preparing to undergo surgery at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center.

Everett said his daughter and Klauba married a little more than a year ago and moved into the duplex in January; they previously lived in Martinez, California, near San Francisco.

Monday’s incident came as a shock because nothing similar had ever happened involving the couple, Everett said.

“I saw them yesterday and they were fine,” he said.

Donna Schock, a neighbor who lives across the intersection from the duplex, said she awoke to the sound of people talking followed by an abrupt loud noise. She assumed it was a gunshot.

“After I heard the gunshot, that’s when I heard the sirens,” she said. “I didn’t think anything of it until they turned into the cul-de-sac.”

Schock said the couple mostly kept to themselves.

The Spokane Police Department is investigating the incident. The Spokane Valley Police Department is operated by the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office.