Man shot by officers on U.S. Marshals task force Monday suspected of drug-related shooting Sunday night

Court records show the man shot by law enforcement officers on the U.S. Marshals’ Fugitive Task Force Monday is suspected of a drug-related shooting the previous day .

Kevin J. Gellnes, 42, was still hospitalized Thursday after being shot at in the Hillyard neighborhood Monday.

While Gellnes did have a warrant for “dangerous drugs,” according to the Spokane Police Department, he is also a suspect in a Sunday night shooting in the Chief Garry Park neighborhood.

At about 11:45 p.m. Sunday, police received reports of gunshots at 1902 E. Desmet Ave. Patrol officers were dispatched to the area but initially reported not seeing or hearing anything, according to court documents.

Shortly after the initial report, Providence Sacred Heart Hospital informed police a gunshot victim had recently been brought to the emergency room.

Jeb L. Carpenter, 50, was injured after being shot at the Desmet residence, according to court documents.

Marvin Wulff, who lives out of his car parked in front of Carpenter’s residence, brought Carpenter to the hospital.

Wulff told police that sometime after dark on Sunday, two women went into the detached two-car garage where Carpenter lives with his girlfriend.

About 10 minutes later, Wulff said the women left. About 10 minutes after that, Wulff heard three gunshots ring out from the unattached garage, according to court documents.

Two men fled from the garage before getting in a dark-colored SUV and speeding off, Wulff told police.

Wulff then drove him to the hospital.

As of Thursday afternoon, Carpenter’s condition was listed as satisfactory.

Police were able to contact Gellnes’ girlfriend, who claimed her car had been broken into the morning after the shooting and that her teal-blue 9mm handgun had been stolen. According to court records, police believed this was a false report and the teal handgun was likely used in the Sunday evening shooting.

That’s when the U.S. Marshals’ Violent Offenders task force contacted local police offering their assistance, according to court records.

When local police discovered Gellnes might be staying at a fourplex at 2907 E. Everett, the Marshals went to check out the area, according to court documents.

Gellnes was shot by “one of the U.S. Marshals,” according to court documents. Dave Oney, a U.S. Marshals spokesman, said the names and number of the Marshals who fired their weapons would not be publicly available.

“Per policy, we do not release the names of USMS personnel involved in shooting incidents to the news media,” Oney said in a email. “We do release them to the investigating authority with the understanding that they won’t release the names to the news media.”

Members of the U.S. Marshals’ Fugitive task force are members of regional law enforcement agencies, and therefore the officers involved in Monday’s shooting could be members of Spokane-area agencies.

Gellnes’ girlfriend told investigators she drove Gellnes and two others to the Desmet Avenue residence where Carpenter was shot, according to court records.

She said Gellnes wanted to confront the woman who lives with Carpenter about money she owed him for drugs. Gellnes was armed with her teal handgun and confronted Carpenter instead of the other woman because she is deaf, according to court records.

Gellnes’ girlfriend said she left only to return a short time later, hearing several gunshots as she arrived. Gellnes and the other man ran out of the garage and jumped back into her car, where Gellnes told her he shot Carpenter, according to court records.

After Gellnes is released from the hospital, he will be booked into Spokane County Jail, said Officer John O’Brien.