Three shot, including officer, before gunman killed by law enforcement in Shoshone County

A gunman on Friday shot and injured an officer and two other people near the Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office before police shot and killed him, according to Shoshone County Sheriff William Eddy.

KHQ reported the two civilians were inside a car when they were shot outside the sheriff’s office in downtown Wallace, Idaho, about 80 miles east of Spokane. They went to the hospital in a private vehicle, KHQ reported.

The agency of the officer was unclear.

Eddy told reporters at a news conference the other victim was shot in the ear. Eddy said all three victims’ injuries were minor.

Law enforcement then shot and killed the suspect, whose identity was not released, in the sheriff’s office lobby. The motive is unknown

Eddy said the suspect was pronounced dead at 4:15 p.m., which is about 1½ hours after the shooting was reported, the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. Eddy said he did not know how many law enforcement officers fired their weapons.

The sheriff said no staff was in the lobby when the shooter entered, but dispatchers were nearby in a separate room.

The shooter fired at other law enforcement personnel beyond the employee who was shot, but Eddy did not disclose how many officers were fired at or in how many different instances. Eddy said the shooter had several guns, but he did not say how many or which types of firearms.

There was never a hostage situation, he said.

Eddy said anyone can walk into the lobby when the building is open, as it was Friday, but he said “we’ll have to look into some changes” regarding security after Friday’s shooting.

Several law enforcement agencies responded. They included the Shoshone County, Kootenai County (Idaho) and Mineral County (Montana) sheriff’s offices, as well as Coeur d’Alene, Kellogg, Osburn and Spokane police departments, Eddy said. The FBI also responded.

Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris called it a “significant event” when someone goes into the sheriff’s office and starts shooting.

Eddy described feeling “a little emotional.”

“It’s been a rough month,” he said.

Eddy took the reins of the sheriff’s office after Sheriff Holly Lindsey resigned following her alleged involvement in an off-duty hit-and-run crash in October.

He was appointed as the county’s new sheriff after Undersheriff Lance Stutzke had been filling the role in Lindsey’s absence. Stutzke resigned the day Eddy was appointed, saying in his resignation letter that people with personal and political agendas were actively working against the department to see it fail, the Coeur d’Alene Press reported.

Two weeks after Lindsey resigned, voters rejected in November a law enforcement levy meant to address budget shortfalls in the sheriff’s office.