31-year-old man gets 15 years in prison for burglary, wounding man in Spokane Valley hotel shooting

A 31-year-old man was sentenced to over 15 years in prison for shooting a man in the stomach after a burglary last year at the Rodeway Inn & Suites in Spokane Valley.

Austin Baxter pleaded guilty to first-degree burglary, second-degree assault and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm Dec. 7. The burglary and assault charges carried firearm enhancements. Spokane County Superior Court Judge Rachelle Anderson then sentenced Baxter to 183 months in prison.

The charges stem from the early morning hours of May 28, 2022, when Baxter and a woman, 27-year-old Zenadiah Oswalt, arrived at the hotel, 6309 E. Broadway Ave., in an SUV, according to surveillance footage detailed in court documents.

A woman told police she and Oswalt, an old friend of hers, chatted inside the woman’s hotel room. She said Oswalt was continually texting on her cellphone during the visit.

Oswalt eventually left the woman’s room and Baxter entered, demanding money from Oswalt’s friend and pointing a pistol at her face, documents say.

The woman said she pounded on the hotel room window and screamed for help from another friend who was staying in a nearby room, court records show. Baxter then sprayed her in the face with “bear mace.” She tried to escape the room, but Baxter pushed her aside and ran out of the room.

Austin Braun told police he and a woman, who was waiting for her friend (Oswalt’s friend), were sitting in his car parked outside the hotel room when he heard someone yelling.

Believing someone was being robbed, he ran toward the room and saw Baxter running out of it, he said in documents. Braun said he approached Baxter, and Baxter shot him in the stomach before fleeing.

Surveillance footage showed Braun tried to grab Baxter, and Baxter fell to the ground. Baxter took out a pistol and fired one round, striking Braun. Baxter then ran, and Oswalt retrieved Baxter’s black SUV.

Deputies found Braun lying on the ground outside the hotel room with a gunshot wound, according to documents. Another deputy found a spent .40 caliber casing on the ground at the scene.

Braun was taken to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center where he had surgery.

Baxter’s girlfriend later told police Baxter confessed he “shot somebody in the stomach.” Baxter told his girlfriend a woman named “Zena,” which police believe is Oswalt’s nickname, was involved in the shooting.

A detective found a canister of pepper spray, a pistol holder and a pair of gloves on Baxter’s escape route, documents say. An employee of a nearby business found a loaded .40 caliber Glock pistol magazine in the business’ parking lot.

A detective was notified three days after the shooting that Baxter had been arrested in Kootenai County for unrelated charges of unlawful possession of a firearm and several counts of grand theft and forgery.

Police obtained Baxter’s cellphone, which showed a Facebook messenger conversation between him and Oswalt at the time of the alleged burglary. The two communicated about how many people were in the hotel room and when Oswalt planned to open the door for Baxter.

Surveillance footage also showed Oswalt entering the woman’s room and Baxter standing outside the building using a cellphone and drinking from a bottle of Snapple. It then showed Oswalt exiting the room and Baxter entering.

Oswalt pleaded guilty Dec. 12 to first-degree rendering criminal assistance. Superior Court Judge Annette Plese sentenced Oswalt to 14 months behind bars.

Baxter was also sentenced Dec. 7 to two additional counts of second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm, first-degree possession of stolen property, failure to remain at the scene of an accident and second-degree possession of stolen property. Those sentences will run at the same time as the 15-year sentence.

The Idaho Court Portal says Baxter pleaded guilty in July 2022 in Kootenai County to forgery. He is set for a status hearing Feb. 13 for that case.

Baxter’s criminal history includes forgery, theft, identity theft, firearm theft and assaults.

Anderson ordered Baxter to spend 18 months in community custody when he’s released from prison in Washington.