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

Man suspected of choking woman, shooting into her apartment

Police suspect a man choked a woman and then shot into her apartment early Tuesday morning.

Around 2:30 a.m., Spokane police responded to a woman’s report that she believed a man had just shot into the window of an apartment in her complex on the 4000 block of West Rowan Avenue, the release said.

She told police that when she heard the shot and glass breaking, she looked out the window and saw a man running away. When she went outside, she saw a handgun magazine by the broken window, the release said.

The 911 caller told police she then contacted the woman in the apartment who said she’d been shot at. The caller showed her neighbor security video and the neighbor identified the fleeing man as “Johnny,” later identified as 29-year-old John J. Felch, the release said.

The victim told police Felch came to her apartment to talk but he became angry and choked her. She said she wasn’t sure why he’d ended the assault and left, according to the release.

Spokane police brought out a K-9 unit that tracked from the woman’s apartment to an address on the 6000 block of North Forrest Boulevard. There, police saw a man in the window who matched Felch’s description who then “retreated” further into the house, the release said.

After the Spokane SWAT team arrived, Felch left the house, according to the release.

Officers executed a search warrant and found two firearms in a toilet tank and a black hoodie with white lettering that looked like the hoodie in the surveillance video, according to the release. One of the firearms was missing a magazine, which matched that found at the scene, and the other gun was reported stolen, the release said.

Felch was booked into Spokane County Jail on suspicion of second-degree assault, third-degree malicious mischief and reckless endangerment. Police also recommended two counts of unlawful possession of firearms, as it is illegal for Felch, a felon, to possess guns, according to the release.