Police: Man beat apartment neighbor to death with frying pan; charged with first-degree murder

A 24-year-old Spokane man who reportedly confessed to a homicide at the downtown police precinct Wednesday morning is suspected of beating his apartment neighbor to death with a frying pan hours after police responded to a fight between the two men.

Spokane police first responded to an incident inside the Wolfe Apartments at 240 W. Sprague Ave. when the defendant, Cameron J. Walker, called 911 to report that he had a been in a fight with his neighbor, according to court documents.

Walker said the other man was being loud and disorderly in a common kitchen so he confronted him, according to court documents. Walker told police the man then spit on him, so he hit him back three times, knocking him to the ground.

When they separated, Walker said, the other man armed himself with a pipe, began yelling and struck the walls in the hallway, court documents show. Walker told police he went into the common kitchen to get a frying pan for protection, then called 911.

Video footage showed the interaction but neither man struck the other, according to court documents. Surveillance cameras also captured the man who was later found dead leaving the building.

Walker spoke with officers at the scene and received medical treatment for swelling on his hands, according to court documents. He also had a fixed-blade knife in his sock.

No one answered the door at the other man’s apartment but officers could see a metal pipe through the gap at the base of the door, court documents show. Police left without locating the man.

Video footage showed the man who was later found dead leaving the building about and 25 minutes before police arrived, according to court documents.

Several hours later, just before 8 a.m., Walker went into the downtown police precinct carrying two bags and asking for “some protection” for “a murder,” according to court documents.

“I took a skillet and beat a man’s head until his soul left his body,” Walker told the officer at the front desk.

Walker declined to answer further questions after telling police the location of the body in the apartment building, which was the same room police visited earlier, according to court documents. Walker later declined to answer questions from detectives.

The responding officer found the door ajar and knocked, which opened the door farther and revealed the body of a man on the ground, court documents show.

The deceased had “extensive injuries” to his head and there was a large amount of blood, according to court documents. A metal pipe was also sitting on a piece of furniture near the door.

Police also noticed a large, broken frying pan in the common kitchen sitting on top of a garbage can full of trash, court documents show. “Numerous” drops of a reddish substance were on the floor of the kitchen and hallway as well.

Video footage showed Walker going into the apartment building around 7:20 a.m., carrying the frying pan and eventually walking toward the deceased’s room, court documents show. The camera in that hallway was broken and did not record any footage.

A few minutes later Walker came back into the view of the camera while carrying the pan then walked into the kitchen, according to court documents. He left the kitchen without the pan and appeared to leave the building around 7:30 a.m.

A neighbor told police both men lived alone and said she walked by them talking in the common kitchen as she was leaving to go to the store in the early morning hours, court documents show.

She said the man who was found dead had looked upset but they were not fighting.

The men were no longer in the kitchen when she returned soon after, according to court documents.

She said she didn’t hear any more noises until she heard what sounded like a large fight, including yelling and pounding, in the deceased’s apartment shortly before police arrived, court documents show.

Other neighbors told police they didn’t see any fighting, according to court documents.

Walker was charged with first-degree murder and his bail was set at $750,000 during a Spokane County District Court hearing on Thursday afternoon, according to court records. He was being held in Spokane County Jail Thursday evening.

Walker has no criminal record in Spokane County, according to local court records. A statewide court database indicates he has no felony record in Washington.

The Spokane County Medical Examiner’s Office has not released the name of the deceased.