Man shot in leg during Airway Heights fight

A 29-year-old man was shot in the leg during a fight Tuesday afternoon at an Airway Heights apartment complex.

Police arrested Joshua L. Plata, 38, on suspicion of first-degree assault.

Police responded around 2:50 p.m. to the shooting at Bentley Apartments, 1715 S. Hayford Road, according to court documents.

One man told police he and Nathan Dingfield, who was shot, were moving out of one of the apartment units when Dingfield and another man, later identified as Plata, started arguing. The two men then started throwing punches and “tussling” in the parking lot, the witness said in court records.

Plata then pulled a firearm and fired one round into the ground before getting in his car and driving through the parking lot.

Another witness took cell phone video of the incident and provided it to police.

Plata was holding a black firearm in his right hand and appeared to be shielding it with his body and fighting off Dingfield, according to the video. In the video, the two men separated, and Plata got into a car before driving through the parking lot, where police found it parked.

One officer found Plata leaving one of the apartment units and heard him say three males jumped him and that the gun was inside the apartment, the officer reported. The officer detained Plata.

Plata told police he fired a warning shot into the ground and that he did not know the bullet struck Dingfield.

A bullet fragment was removed from Dingfield’s leg at a hospital. Dingfield also told police Plata fired a round into the ground when he felt something hit his leg. Dingfield handed police a spent 9 mm shell casing that Plata had reportedly fired.

Plata was booked into the Spokane County Jail and made his initial appearance Wednesday in Spokane County Superior Court.

He remained in jail Wednesday afternoon on a $7,500 bond. He is set for an arraignment Tuesday.