Victim in South Hill shooting diverted attention from wife

Moments before he was shot to death, Doug Carlile tried to divert the attention of the man who killed him away from his startled wife, according to court documents filed Wednesday.

Carlile’s wife told Spokane police that the couple had just returned home Sunday night when an intruder confronted Doug Carlile in the kitchen. Already at the top of the stairs, the wife returned to the kitchen, where she saw a white man she didn’t recognize, clad in black and wearing gloves, pointing a gun at her husband. The shooter’s head turned.

Doug Carlile said to the gunman, “Don’t do anything,” as his wife turned and ran back upstairs, gunfire ringing through the house.

The first details of a fatal shooting that brought dozens of police officers to a quiet South Hill neighborhood shortly after 7 p.m. Sunday were revealed in a search warrant filed in court Wednesday afternoon. Officers said that when they arrived at the three-story home at 2505 S. Garfield Road, Doug Carlile, 63, already lay dead from gunshot wounds in his kitchen.

Carlile’s wife, who called 911, was the only other person in the home, according to investigators. She was found hiding in a bedroom closet upstairs.

Fresh footprints were found in the backyard mud of the house near Hutton Elementary School, but a search with a police dog proved unsuccessful Sunday night and early Monday.

Police have indicated they are looking for a white van captured on surveillance video they think is connected to the crime. Initially described as a Dodge van, police now believe it’s a Chevrolet.

Late Wednesday, investigators also narrowed their request for information on Carlile’s business dealings. Detectives are asking anyone who invested in Carlile’s business Kingdom Dynamics Enterprises Inc., a construction equipment hauling company based in Spokane, to file a report with Crime Check at (509) 456-2233.

Investigators recovered multiple casings from the scene and several stray bullets, one lodged in a kitchen wall and another inside a popcorn popper. Also found were two handguns, though neither were located near Carlile’s body, according to the search warrant.

Police have said they do not think the shooting was a random attack and say Carlile was likely targeted by his killer. They have not identified any persons of interest.