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Man killed by deputies in Greenacres standoff identified

Police and fire personnel on the scene of a standoff with law enforcement in Greenacres on Tuesday. The suspect fired several shot from the home during the incident and at one point the house caught fire. SWAT team members and crisis negotiators were on the scene. The standoff ended when the man was shot and killed by Spokane County deputies. (Kathy Plonka/The Spokesman-Review)
By Quinn Welsch quinnw@spokesman.com(509) 459-5469

The man killed by Spokane County Sheriff’s deputies in Greenacres on Tuesday has been identified as Matthew R. Teears, 31, according to a court document filed at the Spokane County Courthouse.

Teears was killed after a 12-hour standoff at his residence, 18608 E. Lindsey Lane, in Greenacres. A neighbor called 911 just after 11 p.m. on Monday to report gunfire at Teears’ residence that had struck the neighbor’s home.

Teears barricaded himself inside and continued to fire shots in a “reckless” manner from the home, according to the search warrant document filed on Thursday. Deputies were unable to make contact with Teears during what the sheriff’s office described as a mental health crisis.

One sheriff’s detective observed Teears carrying large objects from room to room throughout the residence, but could not identify what they were. Teears was said to be armed with a handgun, the sheriff’s office said.

The standoff lasted until the following morning.

Deputies reported a possible fire at 7:25 a.m. on the second floor of Teears’ residence, the sheriff’s office said. A few minutes later, water appeared to be dripping from the ceiling of the second floor into the garage, but no flames were seen.

At 9:20 a.m., the standoff began to escalate as Teears shot and disabled one of the aerial drones deployed by deputies, the sheriff’s office said. At around 10:30 a.m., Teears was seen wearing a gas mask and holding a gun in his hand after a SWAT team deployed chemical irritants into the home, the sheriff’s office said. A second aerial drone was shot and disabled at 10:40 a.m. A fire was visible on the second floor of the home at about 10:50 a.m. The man attempted to extinguish the fire while also firing multiple shots just before 11 a.m.

According to the search warrant, at least one of the fires began as a result of a flash bang that was deployed in the residence, though it did not say which one.

Teears entered the garage and got into a 2015 Subaru Forester as the garage was filling with smoke, the search warrant document said. Authorities were planning to block Teears’ exit when he instead ran to the backyard. He was then shot and killed by SWAT team members. He had a gun at his side when he left the residence, the search warrant document said.

A door-to-door salesman called 911 to report hearing gunshots at Teears’s residence around noon on Saturday, two days before the neighbors called, the search warrant document said.