Man shot and killed near church steps on North Monroe

When the Rev. John Smith heard the shot that killed a young man at the steps of his church Tuesday afternoon, he ran outside.

It was brutal and ironic, Smith said, to see a dead man, blood still running from his head, at the steps of Smith’s church with the words “Christ Our Hope” on the sign overhead.

“Horrific, horrific, horrific, horrific,” Smith said.

Police responded to a call for an argument around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday near the corner of Monroe Street and Augusta Avenue. When officers arrived, they found one man dead with an apparent gunshot wound to the head, Spokane Police Department spokesman Terry Preuninger said.

James Curran was helping his friend cut carpet at Georgia’s Carpet Outlet near the church when it happened. He saw and heard “every little bit,” he said.

The shooting victim, who looked to be in his 20s or 30s, walked up to a younger man on a bike, Curran said. The man approaching was agitated and yelling. The man on the bike “didn’t want none of it” and backed away, Curran said.

The man who had approached walked away about half a block before he turned back, pulled out a knife and ran toward the man on the bike, Curran said. He knocked the man off his bike and yelled, threatening to kill him. He threw the bike at the man on the ground. Then he lunged with the knife.

The other man drew his gun and fired, Curran said.

“It happened like that so quick, that’s how quick it is, point-blank like that,” Curran said. “He just crumpled over and he was no more. When I saw his body, oh, it didn’t look right. I could tell he wasn’t breathing from across the street. Even the ambulances, they just walked over, and said ‘Uck,’ Not even one of them even checked for a pulse.”

When Smith ran out and saw the dead man, he and another member of the church immediately prayed for him, for the shooter and for everyone in the community who would be touched by the tragedy, he said.

“We need God’s help in these situations,” Smith said. “It’s ironic that our sign says ‘Christ Our Hope.’ This is why we’re in this community. All of us, we’re sinners saved by grace, we need Christ.”

A police officer in plain clothes arrived quickly, Curran said. Before police arrived the young man with the gun tried to run away two or three times. Curran yelled to him not to go anywhere.

By the time police arrived, the shooter was waiting and cooperative, Preuninger said, a rare sight both in cases of murder and self-defense.

Curran was relieved to see police arrive quickly. They parked their cars to protect drivers passing through from seeing the body, a bizarre sight in front of a church, Curran said.

“Hopefully he doesn’t get into too much trouble for the rest of his life because it’s bad enough he had to take someone’s life,” Curran said. “If someone was trying to kill me, I’d do the same thing. I would’ve been on that guy faster to tell you the truth if it was me.”

Police spokesman Terry Preuninger described the shooting as an isolated incident and said there was no ongoing public threat.

Names of the deceased and the gunman were not immediately disclosed.

Maggie Quinlan can be reached at (509) 459-5135 or at maggieq@spokesman.com.