Second person in less than a month shot at Fifth and Fiske

Less than a month after a man was shot and killed near Fifth Avenue and Fiske Street, another man was shot and seriously injured at the same complex.

Officers were called to 3104 E. Fifth Ave. in East Central at about 9 a.m. on a report of a shooting, said Officer John O’Brien, spokesman for the Spokane Police Department. A man was transported to a local hospital with serious injuries after being shot multiple times.

O’Brien said a suspect has not been identified.

The Spokane Police Department said later Monday in a news release that the man shot had called 911 to report the incident. He said he’d been shot by an unknown man.

Major Crimes detectives were called in to search the complex for evidence. Police are asking anyone with information about the shooting to call Crime Check at (509) 456-2233.

On April 28, Jason Allison, 35, was killed at the same complex, the Fifth Avenue Court apartments. Police are investigating whether the two shootings are related.

“It’s too early in the investigation to confirm or rule out that this shooting has a connection to the one from a couple of weeks ago,” O’Brien said.

Spokane police say Allison exchanged rounds of gunfire with an unidentified shooter before collapsing near a porch.

No arrests have been made in the earlier case, although detectives suspect the shooter lives in the apartment complex where Allison was found dead near a handgun and pool of blood, according to investigative reports filed in Spokane County Superior Court.

On May 6, police tracked Allison’s truck, which was captured on video fleeing from the shooting scene, to an impound lot, where it was seized and searched.

Police are continuing to search for three unidentified men connected to the April 28 shooting.

Neighbors said Monday morning the neighborhood had seen increased police activity in recent months, including during the shooting in April and a SWAT standoff earlier this year.

“We see cops here a lot,” said Brian Lutes, who lives with his wife, Tabitha, in a rental around the corner from the five-unit complex where the shooting occurred. “More than once a day.”

The couple, who have lived in the rental for three years, said they were on edge after the shooting in late April, but believed the violence wasn’t random. Property crime has been on the increase in the neighborhood, they said, since the closure of a convenience store location at corner of Third Avenue and Altamont Street.

“Things got really bad here in the past year,” Brian Lutes said.

The apartment is located next door to the upcoming Carl Maxey Center, a planned community gathering place for African-Americans named after the late Spokane civil rights attorney.

Sandy Williams, editor of the Black Lens newspaper and a member of the state Commission on African-American affairs guiding the community center project, said plans are moving forward on the rehab of the old automotive repair center. State legislators allocated money for the construction in their capital budget this session.

“Our hope is that we sort of breathe life into that neighborhood,” Williams said.

Staff writer Jonathan Glover contributed to this report.