Creach shooting

The investigation into last month's police shooting of a Spokane Valley pastor and businessman has been completed and turned over to county prosecutors for review, authorities said today. Investigators have made no recommendation about whether they feel the shooting of Pastor Wayne Scott Creach on his own property by Spokane County sheriff's Deputy Brian Hirzel was justified or whether criminal charges should be considered.

Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich said Wednesday morning that he was in the process of releasing the identities of deputies who responded over the past five years to crime reports at the nursery where Deputy Brian Hirzel shot and killed pastor Wayne Scott Creach last month. However, Jim Emacio, chief deputy civil prosecuting attorney, said late Wednesday that he was essentially vetoing the sheriff and would keep the information concealed until he has more time to review the request made by The Spokesman-Review under the state’s Public Records Act.

Deputy Brian Hirzel's statement to police investigators about the night he fatally shot Wayne Scott Creach, Aug. 25, 2010, on Creach's Spokane Valley property.

Initial summary from Spokane police Detective Brian Hamond, lead investigator on Deputy Brian Hirzel's shooting of Wayne Scott Creach.

Pastor Wayne Scott Creach not only routinely carried his .45-caliber pistol on his property, he was known by police to hold theft suspects at gunpoint until officers could arrive and once apprehended a fleeing man several blocks away by threatening to “blow his head off.” Those incidents were among the 21 contacts Spokane County Sheriff’s Office deputies had with Creach or his business, the Plant Farm, over the past five years, according to records obtained by The Spokesman-Review.

Pastor Wayne Scott Creach not only routinely carried his .45 caliber pistol on his property, he was known by police to hold theft suspects at gunpoint until officers could arrive and once chased a fleeing suspect several blocks before apprehending him by threatening to "blow his head off." That report was among the 21 contacts Spokane County Sheriff’s Office deputies had with Creach or his business, the Plant Farm, over the last five years, according to records obtained by The Spokesman-Review.

The Democratic challenger for Spokane County prosecutor on Monday called for the Washington State Patrol to take over the investigation into the fatal shooting of a Spokane Valley pastor. Spokane lawyer Frank Malone said he had not contacted the WSP, but noted they were already involved in the investigation of the Aug. 25 shooting by Deputy Brian Hirzel as part of a protocol that is designed to avoid having a department investigate itself.

Deputy Brian Hirzel, already under investigation for fatally shooting a Spokane Valley pastor, now is the subject of a new probe. Hirzel failed to disclose, as required under Sheriff’s Office rules, that he and his wife are co-owners of a business that sells sex toys online, and could face disciplinary measures if investigators determine he’s taken an active role in the company’s operations, Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich said Monday.

Earlier this week, 13 days after a cop fatally shot a citizen on his own property, Spokane police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick appeared before the public. Basic information about the shooting of Wayne Scott Creach has been slow to emerge and shamefully scarce. Just days earlier, Kirkpatrick’s department had issued a news release describing the Aug. 25 event as a “close encounter” with a “verbal exchange” – paltry, insufficient generalities that could have accurately been stated the morning after the shooting.

The Spokane Police Department announced Thursday that it is still seeking potential witnesses who may have seen or heard the encounter on Aug. 25 when Deputy Brian Hirzel shot and killed Pastor Wayne Scott Creach in Spokane Valley.

Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich is frustrated and caught off guard by the public reaction to the decision to allow Deputy Brian Hirzel to leave for vacation just hours after he shot and killed a Spokane Valley pastor late last month. Knezovich acknowledges that everything with his department ultimately is his responsibility. But he believes he’s been unfairly portrayed in the decision to allow Hirzel to leave town before explaining the encounter that resulted in the death of 74-year-old Wayne Scott Creach.

Spokane County sheriff’s Deputy Brian Hirzel said he ordered pastor Wayne Scott Creach to drop his gun multiple times, struck the 74-year-old man in the leg with a police baton and fired only after the property owner began to draw the gun out of his waistband, an investigator said Tuesday in the first detailed account of the Aug. 25 incident that resulted in Creach’s death. At no time did Creach aim his weapon at Hirzel, according to Spokane Police Lt. Dave McGovern, who supervises the detectives who investigate major crimes.

The deputy who shot and killed a Spokane Valley pastor on Aug. 25 told investigators that he used a baton on Wayne Scott Creach and repeatedly ordered him to drop his gun before firing his own pistol, Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich confirmed Sunday. Alan Creach, son of Scott Creach, said Sunday that investigators told him about Deputy Brian Hirzel’s statement that he’d struck his father once with a baton, but that investigators had asked him not to disclose that detail to the media. A news release issued Friday by the Spokane Police Department made no mention of the baton.