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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Man charged with drive-by shooting in Spokane Valley

 (Spokane County Sheriff’s Department / Courtesy)

A man was arrested and charged with felony drive-by shooting and failure to stop Monday after he reportedly fired a gun into the air while driving on Sprague Avenue.

Just before 9 a.m., Spokane Valley Sheriff’s Deputies received reports that a man, later identified as Mohamed H. Abed, 31, shot a pistol out of the driver’s side window of a silver Cadillac with Florida license plates near Walmart in Spokane Valley.

A sheriff’s deputy located the vehicle about 20 minutes later in Greenacres and attempted to stop the car, a sheriff’s department statement said. Abed instead drove to his house on the 17900 block of East Shannon Avenue.

A deputy gave commands for the suspect to exit the car. When he did not comply, the deputy got out his patrol rifle. The suspect then drove forward in the direction of a Liberty Lake police officer on scene, the sheriff’s department said.

The sheriff’s department said the deputy called for backup and continued giving commands to the suspect, who then backed into the driveway again.

Abed was ordered to put his hands up but then reached toward his waistband multiple times before eventually exiting the car with his hands visible, according to the statement.

After being arrested and advised of his rights, Abed admitted he fired a shot in the air earlier, the sheriff’s department said.

When asked if he understood the bullet could have hurt someone, Abed smiled and said, “What goes up must come down,” according to the sheriff’s department.

Abed’s girlfriend told deputies he had been diagnosed with a mental illness recently and she had previously petitioned for courts in Florida to take away his gun rights.

The girlfriend gave deputies permission to retrieve three additional guns from the home, and the pistol used in the incident was taken as evidence.