Police respond to report of shooting, find victim of possible assault

Spokane police responded to reports of a woman who appeared to have been shot Wednesday but may have been assaulted instead, and police are looking for answers, according to a Spokane Police Department news release.

At around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, a 911 caller said they saw a woman hanging out of the passenger window of a car near the intersection of Ruby Street and Indiana Avenue, said Officer John O’Brien. It seemed she had been shot, according to the release.

About 15 minutes later, another caller reported a similar sight near the Rosauers in Browne’s Addition, O’Brien said.

As officers arrived in Browne’s Addition, police learned the vehicle had driven behind an apartment building in the 2100 block of West Riverside Avenue, the release said.

Officers found the driver and victim, who seemed at first to have life-threatening injuries. Medics transported her to a hospital, where staff determined her injuries were not that level, the release said. The driver was not a suspect as of Wednesday evening, O’Brien said.

As of Wednesday evening, it appeared the injuries came from an assault rather than a shooting, the release said.

Officers and detectives are still trying to determine where the violence happened and who was involved, the release said.

“This doesn’t appear to be a stranger-to-stranger incident,” O’Brien said.