Spokane jury finds man guilty of New Year’s Eve murder of coworker

A Spokane jury on Tuesday found a 32-year-old guilty of the murder of a man sleeping in his car on New Year’s Eve nearly two years ago.

The jury found that 32-year-old Elijiah Harvey, with premeditation, shot and killed 41-year-old Carlos Thomas on Dec. 31, 2023.

Officers responded early in the morning to the parking lot of Parkview Apartments, 1413 E. Seventh Ave. where they found Thomas shot twice in the chest inside his parked Mercedes, where he usually slept.

According to court records, Thomas had worked with Harvey at Safeway. Witnesses said Harvey was known to “gang bang” and previously called Thomas a racial slur and threatened him, court records say.

After the killing, Harvey broke into his mother’s home wearing only his underwear and shoes, and stated he had to get rid of anything with blood on it, court records say.

A video also shows someone believed to be Harvey loading a gun and walking around the Mercedes in which Thomas is sleeping.

During Tuesday’s closing arguments, Harvey’s defense team maintained he was innocent and that the state did not have enough to prove he is the one in the video.