Police arrest two men suspected of shooting EWU football players

August 24, 2019 2:34 AM

Erin Robinson,

Posted: August 24, 2019 2:34 AM

Updated: May 20, 2021 10:58 AM

by Erin Robinson

SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane Police have arrested two men accused of shooting two Eastern Washington University football players in July.

Police identified the suspects as Avery K. Francis, 26, and Anthony J. Carell, 27.

The shooting took place on July 13 in an alley near Division Street, south of Main. The shooting happened around 1:00 a.m. in a crowded part of downtown when hundreds of people were leaving local bars and restaurants.

EWU Sports Information Director Dave Cook identified the victims as 21-year-old Keith Moore and 22-year-old Dehonta Hayes. They were taken to the hospital with serious injuries the night of the shooting, but were released shortly after.

Court documents reveal Moore told police that he and Hayes had broken up a fight between several people, including Carell and Francis.

The suspects were seen in surveillance video leaving in a white SUV. Moore later told police that the white vehicle stopped near them and he heard someone yell “hey you.” Then he said he heard a gun fire seven to nine times. He and Hayes were both hit by bullets.

Francis and Carell were taken into custody on attempted first-degree murder charges Thursday night.

Spokane Police Sgt. Terry Preuninger couldn’t go into detail about what break they had in the case, but emphasized the importance of community members coming forward with information.

“If you think you know something regarding any kind of crime, but especially a shooting or something of that serious nature, we want you to come forward with that and give it to us because you never know when that’s going to have a key role or make a difference for us,” Sgt. Preuninger said.

Francis has unrelated felony convictions of second-degree robbery, witness tampering and second-degree assault. He also has multiple other arrests.

Carell has unrelated felony convictions of second-degree assault, unlawful imprisonment and is a registered sex offender. He also has multiple arrests.

The arrests were made thanks to hours of work by Major Crimes, Target Crimes Unit and the Police.

Anti-Crime Team. SPD said detectives served search warrants at multiple locations associated with the suspects. Sgt. Preuninger called this a great example of the work local detectives do in the city.

“They have a great record and do a great job and this is one of those cases where he kept plugging away and got what he needed,” Preuninger said.

Preuninger went on to emphasize that the department always has extra officers downtown during busy times and special events.

“We go out of our way, especially in that specific area, to have extra police presence on the weekends and at other times,” Preuninger said. “We put extra officers down there because we have more people and so there is more of a likelihood of something possibly going wrong. So, we take measures to protect against that.”

A judge set both suspects bond at $500,000. They will both enter pleas September 3 at 10:30 a.m.