Police say two people found dead by river’s edge in downtown Spokane appeared to have died by suicide

Two people were found dead downtown near the edge of the Spokane River Wednesday evening in what police suspect was a double suicide.

The call reporting two bodies in or near Riverfront Park came in around 6:10 p.m., the Spokane Fire Department said.

Once firefighters arrived, the people were already beyond help and pronounced dead, the fire department said. Rescuers in kayaks removed their bodies from the river’s edge.

Police later said the deaths appeared to be suicides.

The Monroe Street Bridge was blocked to pedestrians by police at about 7 p.m. for several hours.