Court documents: Victim in Red Top Motel shooting was shot in head during drive-by

A woman shot late last month at the Red Top Motel was struck in the head during a drive-by shooting, according to court documents.

Police arrested Joshua W. Seth, 30, on Wednesday on suspicion of two counts of first-degree attempted murder, two counts of first-degree assault, drive-by shooting, first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm and attempting to elude police, according to the Spokane County Jail inmate roster.

Seth, a felon, made his first court appearance Thursday in front of Spokane County District Court Judge Patti Walker. He remained jailed Friday with a $1 million bond.

About 30 minutes prior to the March 30 shooting, Kevin Beaver met Seth at the Safeway parking lot on East Trent Avenue to collect “a few hundred dollars” that Seth reportedly owed him, Beaver told detectives. After collecting the debt, Beaver returned to the Red Top Motel where he was staying with his wife, Natalie Beaver.

The Beavers and at least one other acquaintance were in a room at the motel around 11:45 a.m. when Beaver said he heard several gunshots from outside the room, documents said. He then noticed his wife was shot in the head and called 911.

Surveillance video from the Red Top Motel and a nearby business show a silver sport utility vehicle like Seth’s 2019 Nissan Pathfinder traveling east on Trent Avenue around 11:45 a.m., according to documents. As the car passes the motel, nine gunshots can be heard on the nearby business’ video recording. Nine fired .45-caliber cartridge cases were recovered in and along Trent Avenue in front of the motel, documents said.

One of the motel’s recordings show bullet damage outside of the Beavers’ room, documents said. At least two of those defects were caused by bullets that passed through the room’s exterior wall and door. Natalie Beaver’s black 2008 Cadillac STS, parked in the motel lot at the time of the shooting, also was struck by a bullet.

Around 5:30 p.m. the next day, Seth and a female left a residence at 5615 S. Zabo Road, south of the Spokane International Airport, and drove away in Seth’s Nissan Pathfinder, a deputy said in the documents. The deputy and other investigators attempted to stop the vehicle, but Seth reportedly sped away in excess of 90 mph. Deputies then stopped the chase.

At the Zabo Road residence, investigators found a .45-caliber cartridge from the closet of a bedroom identified by the homeowners as belonging to Seth and his girlfriend.

Shortly after Seth allegedly fled from deputies, he arrived at his father’s Spokane Valley home and said something like, “They’re coming for me,” Seth’s father told detectives. Seth allegedly hid his Pathfinder in the fenced backyard of the home and a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol.

While searching the home, investigators seized the Pathfinder and the pistol, which was loaded with the same brand .45-caliber cartridges found at the Zabo residence and outside the motel, according to documents.

Anneke M. Long, 23, was also arrested Wednesday on suspicion of first-degree rendering criminal assistance tied to the shooting, according to the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office. She remained jailed Friday on a $5,000 bond.

Cpl. Mark Gregory, sheriff’s office spokesman, said Natalie Beaver was still in the hospital Wednesday.