Convicted killer sentenced to prison for shooting, paralyzing man at Spokane bar
A 48-year-old man previously convicted of killing a man in north Spokane was sentenced last month to more than 4½ years in prison for shooting and paralyzing another man last year at an East Central Spokane bar.
Dumont P. Whitt pleaded guilty Oct. 9 to second-degree assault and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm before Spokane County Superior Court Judge Rachelle Anderson handed down a 56-month sentence, according to court documents.
Whitt shot Laron Mason in the chin and neck on the night of Oct. 20, 2023, at Sam & Doms Bar & Grill, 2429 E. Sprague Ave., court records say.
A bar employee told police Whitt was aggressive with other patrons that night and was drinking a beer that he didn’t buy at the bar. The employee said she took the beer and threw it in the garbage, telling Whitt to leave.
Whitt walked across the patio as the employee went back inside before she heard gunshots shortly after, she told police.
A man with Mason told police he saw Mason talking to someone before hearing three shots and seeing Mason on the ground. He saw what he believed to be the shooter walking away.
Officers found Mason on the ground bleeding and being assisted by bar patrons. He was taken to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center for the gunshot wounds.
Mason struggled to speak in the days following the shooting, but indicated to detectives that “Fatts,” Whitt’s nickname, walked up to him while Mason was talking to someone and shot him.
Police also received an anonymous tip that Whitt was the shooter, documents say. Whitt had reportedly said if he saw Mason or his brother, he would shoot them.
Police found a 9 mm shell casing at the edge of the patio at the bar, but detectives believed two or three bullets were fired.
Whitt was arrested four days after the shooting in Lewiston.
He has a lengthy criminal history.
Whitt pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter in the 2018 shooting death of his then-girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend, Michael Shackelford, in north Spokane. He was also convicted of attempted second-degree assault after stabbing his then-girlfriend’s estranged husband in 2010 at a home just a few blocks from Sam and Doms.