Suspected Howard Street shooter arrested after standoff with law enforcement

Deputies arrested a man suspected of shooting another man last month outside a north Spokane apartment.

The arrest followed a brief standoff with officers on North Market Street.

Steven M. Perry, 36, was jailed on suspicion of first-degree assault, first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm, possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and a Washington State Department of Corrections felony warrant for robbery, according to a Spokane County Sheriff’s Office news release. He remained in jail Thursday on a $500,000 bond.

A search headed by Spokane County Sheriff’s detectives and the U.S. Marshals Service led to an apartment on the 2600 block of North Market Street. A SWAT team, negotiators and other units were called to help.

Perry, a convicted felon, did not cooperate at first but eventually left the apartment and was arrested around 7:10 p.m. Wednesday, according to the release.

Perry is accused of shooting 44-year-old Francisco Gutierrez early on May 20 in a parking lot on the 6300 block of North Howard Street, just north of Francis Avenue, according to court documents. Justin Anderson told deputies he drove Gutierrez to the lot to take a BMW 330 sedan from Perry for a debt that was owed.

Anderson said in the documents that Gutierrez exited the vehicle Anderson was driving and approached the BMW when Perry started shooting at Gutierrez with a rifle. Authorities believe the gun was a .22-caliber weapon.

Gutierrez ran through a nearby bank parking lot and got into the vehicle Anderson was driving and the two went to Providence Holy Family Hospital, according to documents.

Hospital staff told a detective Gutierrez had two gunshot wounds. He was transferred to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center.

Gutierrez was treated and released from Sacred Heart, said Ariana Lake, a spokesperson at the hospital.

The investigaton is ongoing.