Man found dead not far from home
A 55-year-old man was found dead Tuesday afternoon, Spokane Police reported.
The man, whose body was found near Glass Avenue and Perry Street, was pronounced dead at the scene when medics arrived about 12:20 p.m., police spokesman Dick Cottam wrote in a press release. He lived about a mile from that spot, Cottam said.
Detectives believe the man died of natural causes. He had suffered a recent heart attack and there were no signs of trauma, Cottam said.
State Internet site lists smoke-free restaurants
The Washington State Department of Health has unveiled a Web site that includes a directory of smoke-free restaurants.
The site, www.secondhandsmokesyou.com, allows users to find smoke-free restaurants by name, zip code, city or county. To make the list, a restaurant must not allow smoking anywhere inside.
Restaurants that want to be listed on the Web address can contact state health officials through the site.
On Friday, the department will began advertising on TV, radio, billboards, Web sites and in bars the harmful effects of secondhand smoke, according to a department press release.
Felony suspect seized following police chase
A man wanted on a felony warrant was arrested Tuesday night near North Central High School after a brief police chase.
The man was driving near Indiana Avenue and Washington Street when police attempted to pull him over, said Officer Mike McCasland. The incident occurred about 9 p.m.
The driver, who was not named by police, led officers on a short chase during which he ran a stoplight. He stopped his car at Howard Street and Augusta Avenue, and he and his two passengers ran, McCasland said.
Officers caught the two passengers and released them after questioning.
A police dog located the driver after he ran south on Howard. The man was taken to a local hospital to be treated for a dog bite. McCasland said that after treatment, the driver would be taken to the Spokane County Jail where he would be booked for eluding police.
Four missing children found with their father
Four children listed as missing by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children were found and turned over to state custody by Coeur d’Alene police Monday.
Officers Hank Dunham and Nick Lowry went to La Quinta Inn on Sherman Avenue, acting on a tip from a pastor at Real Life Ministries in Post Falls.
The pastor told police that members of his church recognized the children from a missing poster. The father had been spending time at the church doing odd jobs and often had the children with him, the pastor told police. The children, ranging in age from 7 to 17, told police they left Bellingham two years ago with their father.
The father said the children were not in school because he was home-schooling them, police said. The father was detained but not arrested. A protective order had been filed in Washington against the father. The children are in the custody of the Department of Health and Welfare.
Two suspects arrested after assault, robbery
A man was assaulted and robbed early Tuesday in downtown Spokane, and one of the suspects is accused of hitting a police officer several times just before his arrest.
Anthony J. Williams, 32, was booked into the Spokane County Jail on first-degree robbery and third-degree assault charges. A 16-year-old also was arrested in connection with the crime.
Officers were called to Second Avenue and Bernard Street about 1:15 a.m. when a passing motorist reported an altercation, police spokesman Dick Cottam said in a press release.
The victim, Richard Lafortune, told investigators he was punched in the head and told to give the robber everything he had, according to court documents.
Lafortune said the robber took his wallet and tossed it to an accomplice. He said they tried to take his coat and shoes, and hit and kicked him.
A police dog tracked the suspects to the top of a building at 164 S. Washington Street, Cottam said. Officers ordered the pair to lie down. The 16-year-old complied, but Williams hit an officer several times before the officer was able to handcuff him.
Lafortune suffered a concussion, hand fracture and multiple cuts and bruises in the attack. He was taken to a hospital for treatment.
Bail for Williams was set on Tuesday at $100,000.
Man says he killed his friends in suicide note
Belfair, Wash. A man who shot himself to death along a hiking trail left a suicide note claiming responsibility for the fatal shooting of a couple who were his friends in this Mason County town over the weekend, investigators said Tuesday.
Justin Purinton, 23, of Bremerton, said in the three-page, handwritten note that he felt betrayed when his friends – Matthew Saunders, 23, and Angela Offen, 22 – moved to Belfair, according to an excerpt cited by KOMO-TV. He said he was under heavy influence of drugs and alcohol when he shot them and that demons often visited him while he slept.
The note added: “There is no reason, no excuse, nor any explanation for my actions (in killing) my beloved friends. … In Eastern philosophy, if a man brings shame to his friends or family, he must end his own life.”
Investigators said they believe Purinton smashed in the front door of a Belfair residence at about 3 a.m. Saturday, went upstairs and shot Saunders and Offen. When authorities searched the house, they found evidence the couple had a roommate when they lived in Bremerton.
The investigators identified Purinton and were preparing to search his home Monday evening when they received a call from a hiker on the Gold Creek Trail about eight miles east of Belfair. The hiker had discovered a body – Purinton’s – along with a 9mm pistol.
When they searched his home, they found a collection of weapons including what might be the shotgun used in the double homicide, Inspector Dean Byrd of the Mason County Sheriff’s Office told KOMO.
Purinton and Saunders both worked at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton.
Fate of rock musician’s house remains unclear
Seattle Plans to turn a Seattle house where legendary rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix once lived into a youth center are again on shaky ground.
Members of the foundation that owns the house and has moved it once already are worried the city of Seattle will demolish it if they can’t find another place to move the dilapidated piece of rock history.
The home owned by Hendrix’s father from 1953 until 1956 – when Jimi Hendrix was 12 to 15 – was moved a few blocks from its original address three years ago to make way for a housing development.
The city offered a vacant lot, giving supporters a chance to find a permanent location or buy the land and fix up the house. Now the house is falling apart, and the city says the foundation never made a proposal to buy the property.
City officials want to end the month-to-month lease and take back the land. The foundation has been given until Feb. 22 to move the house.
“There are other potential opportunities associated with the site; we need to extinguish the lease,” said John Franklin, director of operations for the mayor’s office.
Hendrix died of a drug overdose in 1970 when he was 27.