Man sentenced to 15 months for skateboard assault; prosecutors could not prove strike killed victim

A 21-year-old man, originally charged with murder for striking a man in the head with a skateboard, pleaded guilty to assault earlier this month after prosecutors determined they could not prove the strike to the head two years ago at a Spokane Transit Authority bus stop killed the victim, according to Preston McCollam, Spokane County chief criminal deputy prosecutor.

Spokane County Superior Court Judge John Cooney sentenced Shawn C. Shippy earlier this month to 15 months in jail after he pleaded guilty to second-degree assault with a deadly weapon. The bulk of the sentence included a 12-month deadly weapon enhancement because Shippy, who has no prior felonies, used a skateboard to commit the assault.

A witness at the bus stop, which is across the street from the former Trent Resource and Assistance Center on East Trent Avenue, told police she was waiting for the bus on Feb. 19, 2023, when a man, later identified as 64-year-old Harold Kahoonei, approached her and asked her for money, according to court documents. She asked him to leave her alone several times, but he did not.

Shippy then got involved by trying to use pepper spray on Kahoonei, the woman said in court records.

She said Shippy started chasing Kahoonei in the middle of Trent Avenue before he struck Kahoonei in the head with a skateboard and fled.

The woman told police Kahoonei laid motionless in the street while traffic passed by until he eventually got up and got on a bus.

She said Kahoonei then got off the bus after contacting STA security.

A Spokane police officer responded at about 5:40 p.m. to the reported assault and spoke with Kahoonei, according to documents. The officer wrote that injuries to Kahoonei’s face were consistent with his statements that he was assaulted.

Kahoonei died March 5, 2023, about two weeks after the assault, at MultiCare Deaconess Hospital from complications of blunt force injuries of the head, according to the Spokane County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and probable methamphetamine use were significant contributing factors to his death, Makinzie Mott, deputy medical examiner at the Spokane County Medical Examiner’s Office, wrote in documents.

Shippy was charged with suspicion of second-degree murder nine months after the assault. The Spokane County Jail roster indicates Shippy has been in jail since Nov. 23, 2023. He was given credit for time served.

He will serve 18 months of community custody, or probation, when he’s released from jail.