Officer shoots at, arrests fleeing suspect in lower South Hill; no injuries

A Spokane police officer shot at but did not hit a wanted person on the lower South Hill on Saturday afternoon. No one was hurt and the suspect was arrested.

The officer who fired his weapon at the suspect believed he was armed with a semi-automatic handgun, police said.

But that apparently was not the case.

In a press release issued Saturday evening, Spokane Police Department Spokesperson Teresa Fuller wrote, “What appears to be a replica firearm was found on the suspect when he was taken into custody. Investigators will verify it’s operability after it’s collected as they process the crime scene.”

At about 3 p.m., near the 600 block of Maple Street, an officer was searching for the suspect, who had an active arrest warrant for illegal possession of a firearm issued by the U.S. Marshals Service, Spokane police Chief Craig Meidl said.

The officer found someone matching the description of the warrant. The suspect took off running and the officer chased. The officer radioed to other officers that the man was armed with a semi-automatic handgun.

Sometime later, the officer fired mulitple shots but did not hit the person.

The suspect then ran through an apartment complex and left the officer’s view.

Minutes later, a person several blocks away called 911, reporting that someone matching the description of the suspect was in the alley behind his home.

The officer went to that location, and the person took off running again, Meidl said, but the officer caught the suspect. The officer then took the person into custody, without further incident.

Meidl would not release a description of the suspect, including his or her gender or race, during an afternoon press conference called to discuss the shooting. But Fuller’s press release noted the suspect was a man.

He had not yet been named as of Saturday evening.

Fuller’s press release said officers were equipped with body-worn cameras and that footage captured by the body cameras, as well as any captured by cameras in the area, will be reviewed by investigators.

The release also said multiple outside agencies have been called in to assist with the investigation as part of the SPD’s officer-involved protocol.