Court documents: Two men met hours before police chase, officer shooting near Providence

Court documents describe the man arrested on suspicion of a car-jacking that led to an officer-involved shooting on Wednesday morning as an acquaintance of the driver.

Reily W. Arambul, 27, met the driver at his residence in Hillyard the previous night. Arambul requested a ride to Spokane Valley from the man, who noticed that Arambul had a handgun holstered on his right hip.

The two drove to Spokane Valley in the man’s 2005 Nissan Frontier after midnight.

At some point, Arambul asked the man to go downtown instead and directed him to an apartment complex on the 300 block of West Fifth Avenue. Arambul walked to the apartment building while the man waited in the car.

The Spokane Police Department responded to a report of a man brandishing a handgun in the same area at about 4 a.m., according to a police statement.

Arambul got back into the truck and told the man to go as police vehicles began to close in on them, court documents said.

Arambul took control of the truck from the passenger side, shifting it into reverse, pressing down on the gas pedal and steering the truck, documents said. Spokane police officers saw some kind of struggle inside of the truck, according to the police statement.

“Knowing the defendant was armed with a handgun, and now in fear for his life as to what the defendant may do, (the victim) put his hands away from the steering wheel allowing the defendant to take control of the truck,” court documents said.

The truck traveled a few blocks east before the man behind the wheel saw a Spokane police vehicle in front of him and applied the brakes. The man told Arambul to get out of the vehicle and that he “didn’t want anything to do with this,” documents said.

Spokane police vehicles blocked the truck in the middle of Fifth Avenue near Browne Street, police said.

Arambul exited the vehicle and ran southbound toward Sixth Avenue as an officer chased him.

“At about Sixth Avenue and Browne, the suspect stopped, faced the officer, and at some point the officer fired one round at the suspect, who then surrendered without further incident,” police said.

Police said no one was injured .

Police found a black handgun with a loaded magazine in the grass nearby, and Arambul said he had a firearm after his arrest, according to court documents. Arambul told police that he had only known the man driving the truck for about eight hours. Arambul also told police that he fled because he has a warrant out for his arrest, the documents said.

Arambul was arrested on suspicion of first-degree carjacking and unlawful possession of a firearm. Arambul is a felon convicted of first-degree robbery and is not allowed to possess firearms, court documents said.