Man Arrested In Early-Morning Death Police Are Uncertain How Victim Died

A 40-year-old man was arrested and booked into jail for first-degree manslaughter Sunday in connection with a death at an East Pacific Avenue home.

James E. Evans was staying at 2504 E. Pacific when a man was killed there around 6 a.m. on Sunday, said Dick Cottam, Spokane Police Department spokesman. Evans was arrested later in the afternoon.

The dead man’s identity has not been released.

Police have not determined what led to the death nor do they have a motive, Cottam said.

“How the person died, we don’t know,” said Sgt. Al Wilson. “We believe he was visiting the house.”

There were six people in the house when the man was killed, four of whom were there when police arrived. Two others fled, but returned and were questioned by police.

The house is across the street from the Zion Temple Church of God in Christ. A neighbor, a man who did not want to be identified, said people come and go from the house all day and night.

“In the past year there has been a lot of drug trafficking. People have called Crime Check several different times and nothing has happened,” he said.

The neighborhood has had its share of trouble this year. Five weeks ago, 19-year-old Curtis Ricky Jones was killed at the other end of the block in what police described as a gang-related shooting.

Jones was a known drug dealer and had been charged with several felonies.

, DataTimes MEMO: The victim was identified as Samuel F. McNeal.