‘Young teen’ dies in early-morning Spokane shooting

Spokane police are investigating the killing of a young teen shot in the early morning hours Saturday in the Bemiss Neighborhood.

Officers responded at about 2:40 a.m. to East Heroy Avenue, between Lacey and Regal streets and just north of Regal Elementary School, for a report of a person being shot, police said in a news release. Officers found the teen with gunshot wounds, and he was taken to a local hospital.

Police’s Major Crimes Unit was at the shooting scene investigating at least into midafternoon Saturday. No arrests have been made.

One neighbor, who wished to remain anonymous as police investigate, said he awoke to six gunshots before police quickly arrived. He said he saw the teen being taken away in an ambulance.

“It’s a tragedy,” he said.

Police have not released further details about the teen.

The neighbor said he initially thought the gunshots were the sound of someone knocking on his door. He said he got up, grabbed his firearm and noticed his neighbor standing outside. That neighbor told him he also heard six gunshots.

He said his home surveillance captured two vehicles driving by just before the shooting. He said both cars slowed down, and they didn’t speed away after the shooting, so he was unsure whether they were involved.

A person inside a home ran out screaming after the shooting, the neighbor said.

He said there’s been shootings in recent years in the same area.

Police scoured the neighborhood Saturday and asked him to look for bullet holes in his vehicles. He said there weren’t any.

He said a bullet from Saturday’s shooting hit a tree in a front yard across the street from him. Police could be seen Saturday afternoon examining the tree.

The Spokane County Medical Examiner’s Office will release the name of the boy who died.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to contact Crime Check at (509) 456-2233 and reference incident No. 2025-20016661.