‘What are you gonna do? Shoot me?’: Man on trial for Logan Neighborhood shooting that left 30-year-old dead

The prosecution and defense agree that Gunnar Doughty shot 30-year-old Dylan McCorkle in the head last winter outside a Logan Neighborhood home in Spokane.

Prosecutors, however, attached a murder charge to the killing, while Doughty’s attorneys say their client fired in self-defense.

Attorneys made opening arguments Tuesday in the second-degree murder trial of the 33-year-old Doughty.

“ ‘What are you gonna do? Shoot me?’ Those are the last words Dylan McCorkle spoke before Gunnar Doughty shot him in the center of his forehead, ending his life,” Spokane County Deputy Prosecutor Katherine McNulty told the jury to begin her opening statement.

McNulty said McCorkle and Doughty, who wore a suit in court Tuesday, got into an argument the night of Feb. 1, 2024, in which Doughty called McCorkle’s girlfriend a variety of bad names, upsetting McCorkle.

Shortly before 2 a.m. the next day, McCorkle, who lived two doors down from Doughty, walked the short distance to Doughty’s home on the corner of Hamilton Street and Jackson Avenue to discuss the argument, McNulty said.

McCorkle was shirtless and indicated he was high on methamphetamine when Caisha Wilmoth encountered McCorkle walking up and down the street minutes before the shooting, Wilmoth testified Tuesday. Wilmoth moved out of the Hamilton Street home a couple of months before the shooting, and Doughty had since moved in. She knew McCorkle and Doughty.

She told police in court documents she pleaded with McCorkle to walk back home and was aware Doughty was always armed with a gun. McCorkle instead walked onto the Hamilton Street property.

Wilmoth said McCorkle was calling for Doughty to exit the Hamilton Street home. Doughty, who was armed with a 9 mm pistol, eventually came outside, stepped off the porch and into the front yard where McCorkle and Wilmoth stood.

Wilmoth testified that McCorkle, who was unarmed, was about 3 feet in front of Doughty. McCorkle then asked Doughty if he was going to shoot him before Doughty fired one shot, striking McCorkle, she said.

McNulty played a 911 call disc in court where Wilmoth could be heard speaking to a 911 operator and screaming hysterically after witnessing the killing. Some of McCorkle’s loved ones became emotional and left the courtroom during the playing of the 911 call. Wilmoth, who was still on the stand, also shed tears.

McNulty said less than one minute transpired from the time Doughty stepped outside to when he shot McCorkle. Doughty then ran south on Hamilton Street, Wilmoth said.

McNulty said Doughty went to his girlfriend’s home, which is about six blocks from the shooting scene and where he was arrested less than a week later after a long SWAT standoff. Doughty barricaded himself in a crawl space during the standoff, according to police.

Law enforcement recovered a gun in the space that matched the shell casing found next to McCorkle, McNulty said.

Meanwhile, Travis Jones, one of Doughty’s attorneys, said McCorkle showed up drunk and high at Doughty’s house “to finish what he started” hours earlier. Doughty told McCorkle calmly to “come here,” trying to de-escalate the situation that morning, said Jones, citing video evidence.

Jones said McCorkle can be heard saying an expletive to Doughty and telling him he can’t disrespect McCorkle’s girlfriend. Doughty then showed McCorkle his gun to get him off his property. McCorkle lunged at Doughty with one hand out and one hand behind his back, Jones said.

Believing McCorkle was armed, Doughty shot him.

Wilmoth testified that McCorkle’s hands were up in the air before he was shot.

Jones said his client was reacting to the argument the day before and threats that this was going to be “finished later,” McCorkle and his girlfriend made to Doughty over social media. Jones said Doughty knew McCorkle was violent.

“Doughty believed he was facing an angry, aggressive, persistent threat that was probably armed at his home, that was refusing to leave,” Jones said.

Doughty pleaded guilty last week to unlawful possession of a firearm related to the shooting. Spokane County Superior Court Judge Julie McKay is presiding during the trial.