Spokane police seize several guns, thousands of rounds of ammunition, from drive-by shooting suspect

Spokane Police officers seized several guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition from a truck belonging to a drive-by shooting suspect.

Benjamin D. Rowbotham, 22, faces two charges of drive-by shooting after firing a gun Tuesday afternoon from his silver 1990 pickup near the area of Sinto Avenue and Napa Street, and again near Third Avenue and Freya Street.

According to court documents, Rowbotham told officers a person pointed a gun at him, “so I shot a couple off, but I didn’t hit anyone.”

“Oh, I’m not going to talk about it, it will incriminate me,” he apparently told officers. “It was self defense.”

Rowbotham, with a passenger in his truck, fled from police after several witnesses took photos of his truck following the shootings. He led them on a short chase near 11th Avenue and Ray Street, but was pulled over after a few blocks.

In his truck, police found two rifles, a loaded .40 caliber semi automatic handgun, a .38 caliber revolver and over 4,000 round of ammunition.

Rowbotham has no prior felonies in Spokane County.