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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
News >  Crime/Public Safety

Spokane police investigating fatal shooting, collision in north Spokane

March 8, 2023 Updated Wed., March 8, 2023 at 8:45 p.m.

A driver struck this car late Tuesday and was found dead by police inside his car that flipped over in the crash. Police say the man had been shot.  (Quinn Welsch/The Spokesman-Review)
A driver struck this car late Tuesday and was found dead by police inside his car that flipped over in the crash. Police say the man had been shot. (Quinn Welsch/The Spokesman-Review) Buy this photo

A man was killed in a shooting that resulted in a rollover collision on the 200 block of East Cleveland Avenue on Tuesday night, Spokane police said.

Police discovered a man inside of the crashed vehicle who had been shot. Despite life-saving efforts, the man, whose identity hasn’t been made public, succumbed to his wounds, police said.

Vanessa Orr and her husband, Nathan Schabert, were on the porch of their home smoking a cigarette before getting ready for bed around 7:30 p.m. when they heard two loud bangs and an engine revving. Thirty seconds later, a vehicle with its lights off came flying westbound on Cleveland Avenue. The vehicle smashed into the side of their Mercury Sable parked in front of their home, turned onto its side and skidded about 100 feet in front of their neighbors, Schabert said. Their garbage can was knocked three houses down the street.

Surveillance footage from their residence showed another vehicle followed behind the crashed car and drove around the scene.

Orr went to help the person who was trapped in their car and called 911. Blood was pooling onto the street, she said.

The two have lived in Spokane for more than 30 years and on Cleveland Avenue for the past four years, they said. In that time, there have been occasional vehicle prowls and theft, they said.

“Nothing like this,” Schabert said.

Neighbors Diana Fairchild and Susan Lyman said they were in their homes watching the Gonzaga game when they heard the car crash and slide in front of their homes.

“I heard a big noise and I looked out the window and you could see (the car’s) tail lights on its side,” Lyman said.

Police arrived within minutes and blocked off the street. The vehicle was towed sometime after midnight, Lyman said.

Normally, the neighborhood is pretty quiet, Fairchild said. The narrow section of Cleveland Avenue runs parallel to a commercial lot to the south side. A row of houses and an apartment building under construction dot the north side of the street between Astor and Mayfair streets.

“It’s been a long time, I’d say 10 years since we’ve had any kind of SWAT incident in our neighborhood,” Lyman said. “This was alarming.”

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