Spokane police arrest woman in fatal downtown stabbing

Spokane police arrested a 30-year-old woman on suspicion of second-degree murder stemming from a stabbing Tuesday night at a downtown apartment building.

Officers arrested Ashley Garrity Saturday near Maple Street and Maxwell Avenue in West Central Spokane after getting a tip about her location, according to a Spokane police news release. Police said Garrity ran from officers.

Officers received a call for a stabbing just before midnight Tuesday at the Beatriz and Ed Schweitzer Haven Apartments, 9 E. First Ave. The apartments provide permanent housing for people transitioning out of homelessness.

Officers found a woman, identified as Faith Cook in court documents, with a stab wound and started rendering aid, according to a previous police release. Documents said she had stab wounds to her chest and died shortly before 2 a.m. Wednesday.

A detective wrote in the documents that he saw blood on the kitchen floor in the apartment where the stabbing allegedly happened. A steak knife was on the floor with what appeared to be a blood drop near it.

A woman who witnessed the attack told police she was in the victim’s room with her and Garrity. She said the victim and Garrity got into an argument and the victim told Garrity to get out.

Cook and Garrity eventually started to physically fight near the front door in the kitchen area, according to the witness. The witness said she did not see the stabbing but did hear Cook say, “You stabbed me,” to Garrity.

The witness said she pushed Garrity out the door and locked it. The victim told the witness, “She stabbed me,” and lifted her shirt and showed the witness where she had been stabbed in the chest.

The witness told police she ran across the hall to find someone with a phone to call 911. While in the hall, Garrity passed by and asked how Cook was doing, documents said.

A woman in a different apartment unit at the building told police Garrity and a male came to her room Tuesday prior to the stabbing. Garrity left the woman’s unit and later knocked on her door and said the police were going to come and she was going to jail.

The woman told police Garrity then told the male, who was sleeping on the woman’s couch, “We gotta go, I’m gonna go to prison” and something about getting in a fight with the victim. Garrity and the male left.

Video surveillance showed Garrity leaving Cook’s unit and going to the unit she first arrived Tuesday, court records said. Surveillance also showed Garrity and the male leaving the building around 11:45 p.m., which was a few minutes after the 911 call came in.

Garrity was booked into the Spokane County Jail for the murder charge along with an outstanding felony Department of Corrections warrant for assault, officers said. Her bond is $1 million. Garrity has six felony convictions, including assault, harassment and possession of stolen property.