Spokane Police Department names officer who shot suspect outside East Central apartment

The Spokane Police Department on Thursday identified the officer who shot a man outside an East Central apartment complex over the weekend.

According to a department news release, Officer Darren Keblish shot and injured 60-year-old Robert Botzon at the Hart Terrace apartment complex at 3308 E. 11th Ave.

Botzon was there to pick up his brother-in-law Frank Galan, Galan told The Spokesman-Review.

Police say they contacted Botzon because they ran his license plates and realized he had a warrant out for his arrest after failing to register as a sex offender.

Botzon was sentenced in 2013 on counts of child rape and incest, but has since been released, court records show.

Botzon went outside to smoke a cigarette and wait for his brother-in-law so they could go watch the Super Bowl. When Galan came out, his brother had a visible gunshot wound to his torso and he was in handcuffs.

He wasn’t aware that Botzon was armed; a police news release said officers on the radio relayed that he had a gun, but investigators have not said whether they found one or whether they were threatened with one.

According to the department release, Botzon was shot after an “intense interaction” in which he would not comply with officers’ commands when they were attempting to arrest him.

Botzon is not in the Spokane County Jail as of Thursday. He has been in the hospital undergoing treatment because of the shooting.