Police: East Central shooting victim crawled through window, was discovered by residents who’d never met him

Spokane police say a pair of East Central Neighborhood residents, whose apartment complex last month was the location of a deadly shooting, found Monday’s shooting victim bleeding from multiple bullet wounds inside a back bedroom.

Minutes before the discovery, one resident saw two males in “dark-colored hooded sweatshirts with the hoods pulled tightly over their heads” run out of a back door moments after hearing gunshots, according to court records.

One of the residents said he did not know the victim found in the back bedroom, and “had never seen him before,” detectives wrote in a search warrant filed Tuesday in Spokane County Superior Court.

Officers responded to the apartment complex at 3104 E. Fifth Ave. at about 9 a.m. after one of the two residents called 911. Records say a 25-year-old man was transported to a local hospital with wounds to his left and right chest, scrotum, both thighs and left hand.

Sgt. Terry Preuninger, Spokane police spokesman, said Tuesday the victim is still alive. A suspect has not been arrested.

When interviewed at the hospital Monday, the victim told officers he was at the back door area of apartment No. 2 when he was randomly shot at. Records say he crawled through an open window in the southeast bedroom and called for help.

“He did not know who shot him and had no idea what occurred to precipitate a shooting,” police said in court records.

Police found at least four visible dents consistent with bullet holes on the southeast corner, records say. Six .380-caliber shell casings were also found in the back bedroom.

One resident told police he was asleep on the couch when at about 8 a.m., he exited the apartment to smoke a cigarette in a nearby parking area east of the residence. When he returned to the back door, he said two men in sweatshirts were walking away.

On April 28, Jason Allison, 35, was killed at the same complex, the Fifth Avenue Court apartments. Police say Allison exchanged rounds of gunfire with an unidentified shooter in the neighboring apartment before collapsing near a porch.

Police are investigating whether the two shootings are related.

“It’s too early in the investigation to confirm or rule out that this shooting has a connection to the one from a couple of weeks ago,” O’Brien said Monday.

No arrests have been made in the Allison case, but detectives suspect the shooter lives in the apartment complex where Allison died, according to investigative reports filed in Spokane County Superior Court.

On May 6, police tracked Allison’s truck, which was captured on video being driven from the shooting scene to an impound lot where it was seized and searched.

Police are continuing to search for three unidentified men connected to the Allison shooting.