19-year-old who fired gun near Spokane elementary school given credit for time served

A 19-year-old man who fired a bullet into the air last month, forcing a northeast Spokane elementary school to lock down, was given credit for time served and released from jail last week.

Linfield Heran pleaded guilty Dec. 5 to criminal mischief with a deadly weapon and discharging a firearm, according to court documents. Spokane County Superior Court Judge Maryann Moreno then sentenced Heran to the 33 days in jail he served. Moreno did not order community custody, or probation.

Bemiss Elementary School was placed on lockdown because the shooting happened about a block from the school, police said.

Surveillance footage from a nearby apartment showed Heran and a female on Nov. 2 walking on Altamont Street toward Liberty Avenue before reaching a male who was laying down, court records said.

The footage showed Heran and the female waking up the male, and Heran having a short conversation with him. Heran then pulled out a handgun from the female’s purse, pointed the gun in the air near the head of the male, who was by then standing, and fired one round into the air, surveillance showed. Heran then punched the male in the face before running eastbound with the female.

The victim corroborated the evidence shown by surveillance, documents said.

A neighbor was standing on his front porch around 11 a.m. that day when he heard a loud pop, which sounded like a gun, and saw Heran and a female run from the area of the shot, according to documents.

An officer found a shell casing in the street at Altamont and Liberty, court records said.

Police arrested Heran at a nearby Altamont Street residence. Heran was booked into the Spokane County Jail on suspicion of first-degree assault, fourth-degree assault and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.

The standard sentencing range for each of the two counts to which Heran pleaded guilty is zero to 12 months in jail, documents said. Heran does not have prior felony convictions.