Court documents: Quest to reclaim debt led to shooting at north Spokane apartment complex

A Spokane man is accused of shooting a man twice with a .22 caliber rifle earlier this month in a north Spokane apartment parking lot.

Steven M. Perry, 36, has been charged with suspicion of first-degree assault, first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm and possession with intent to deliver methamphetamine, cocaine and LSD, according to a probable cause affidavit filed last week in Spokane County District Court. Perry was not listed in the Spokane County Jail on Friday.

Justin Anderson told deputies he drove, with 44-year-old Francisco Gutierrez as a passenger, in the early morning hours of May 20 to a parking lot on the 6300 block of North Howard Street, just north of Francis Avenue, to take a white BMW 330 sedan from Perry to pay off a debt.

Anderson said in the affidavit Gutierrez exited the vehicle Anderson was driving and approached the BMW with a key fob. Perry, whom Anderson had met before, came into the parking lot and started to fire at Gutierrez with a rifle, the court documents said.

Anderson described the rifle as similar to an AK-47 with a foregrip and no stock, court records said. Anderson said in the affidavit Gutierrez fell to the ground in the parking lot of the apartment complex, and that Perry pointed the rifle at Anderson while he was still sitting in the driver’s seat.

Anderson drove away quickly, damaged his tire on a curb and waited in the parking lot of a nearby bank , according to documents.

Anderson said in the affidavit Perry fired several more times at Gutierrez, and that Gutierrez ran through the bank parking lot and got into the vehicle Anderson was driving. Anderson said he drove Gutierrez to Providence Holy Family Hospital, where Gutierrez was treated, records said.

Medical staff at the hospital told a detective Gutierrez had two gunshot wounds, the injuries were life-threatening and that he might lose a leg, according to the affidavit. He was transferred to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center.

According to a Spokane County Sheriff’s Office news release, Gutierrez’s condition has stabilized.

One witness who lives on North Howard Street said he heard several shots that morning and saw his neighbor, who he knows as “Steve,” come out of a Howard Street apartment carrying an AR-15 style rifle and a large bag, documents said.

The witness said Steve said something like, “They were after me,” records said. He said he saw Steve get into a white BMW sedan and drive south on Howard Street.

A detective found three cartridge casings that were consistent with a .22 caliber handgun or rifle in the parking lot near the door of 6312 N. Howard St., Apt. B, where Perry lives, according to documents. Deputies found several blood stains on the grass and in the parking lot nearby.

They also found tire marks in the grass that were consistent with a vehicle being driven over a curb and into the grass of the bank parking lot, records said. The detective said a pistol found in the grass was possibly dropped by Gutierrez while fleeing. Detectives determined the pistol to be a stolen .45 caliber with no magazine or cartridge chambered.

Detectives and deputies searched Perry’s apartment and found two more .22 caliber cartridge casings just inside the doorway. Inside Perry’s bedroom, they found ammunition, including .22 caliber bullets; pistol magazines; two rifle scopes; a .22 caliber revolver from a wall safe; meth, cocaine and LSD; cash; scales; and packaging material for drug delivery.

On May 21, an abandoned 2006 BMW 330 sedan with probable bullet damage in the side of the vehicle was found in an alley on the 2400 block of Wabash Avenue.

Perry is a convicted felon and has a warrant for escape from community custody on a robbery charge and also had previous arrests for unlawful possession of a firearm, documents said.