2 injured in scissors attack at downtown Spokane shelter

Two Guardians Foundation employees were injured Wednesday morning after a homeless woman attacked them with scissors at the Westminster Congregational warming center in downtown Spokane.

Police arrested Tayleeanne J. Guerrero, 18, at about 7 a.m., according to Officer John O’Brien, spokesman for the Spokane Police Department.

The attack prompted a phone alert from neighboring Lewis and Clark High School to staff and the parents of students.

Michael Shaw, director of the Post Falls nonprofit that contracts with the city warming shelters, said two employees were injured in the attack, one of them a military veteran.

Guerrero and her boyfriend reportedly got into an argument. When staff intervened and began escorting them to the door, she pulled out the scissors.

“She assaulted my employee vigorously with this weapon,” Shaw said. “And then gave him a pretty good beat down as well.”

The man was taken to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center for lacerations to his face and neck, Shaw said. The veteran also suffered hearing loss in his left ear. Shaw anticipated he would be released later in the day.

Another employee, also a man, was taken to Sacred Heart urgent care for a possible concussion and was released later that morning. Shaw said this is the first incident of Guardians Foundations employees being assaulted at city warming shelters.

Shaw credited the quick work by witnesses, many of them homeless, who pulled the woman away and detained her until police arrived.

“They joined up and disarmed this individual and took her down,” he said. “It was kind of a heroic moment there. The majority of the individuals who were there could have possibly a saved a life.”

Pastor Andrea CanstroLang, who’s led the church for 16 years, said this incident would likely lead to increased security moving forward.

“It would have been terribly naive to think we weren’t going to have some difficulties,” she said. “Doing the right thing isn’t the same as doing the easy thing.”

Shaw echoed her sentiment.

“These people just don’t represent the homeless population,” he said. “We don’t want this to be another way to criminalize these people that are just trying to survive.”