Suspect Wounded In South Hill Home Invasion

SPOKANE — A man is in the hospital with two gunshot wounds to the stomach after police say he broke into a home with another man on Spokane’s South Hill early Monday morning.

Spokane Major Crimes Detectives say the two broke into the home located in the 4100 block of East 16th Avenue just before 2 a.m.

“About two o’clock this morning a female called … saying two black males had broken into their house both men were armed were armed,” Spokane Police Officer Tim Moses said.

While the young woman was on the phone with 9-1-1 her boyfriend went out into the living room with a handgun and saw the intruders pistol whipping his other room mate.           

“When my son made eye contact with him they both had guns in their hands and my son got his up first and shot him at least a couple of times, we don’t know the details on that yet,” the father of one of the home’s residents said.

The wounded intruder then shot back but missed his targets and stumbled into the neighbor’s back yard where he collapsed. He was taken to Deaconess Medical Center where he underwent four hours of surgery. Spokane Police Officer Tim Moses says the man remains in serious condition at the hospital.

“He did wound the suspect with some pretty severe abdominal wounds,” Officer Moses said. “The second suspect fled, we do not know if he was injured, we have no idea who he is other than he is an African-American male in his early twenties.”

Investigators doubt this was a random robbery. Inside the home that was broken into they found a small amount of marijuana and the resident who did the shooting was the victim of a home invasion robbery at another South Hill residence last July.

“Often home invasions are not at random,” Major Crimes Detective Sergeant Joe Peterson said Monday morning at the crime scene.

In that case the suspects were also described as armed African-American males. The only difference is that this time the victim was armed and ready.

“The handgun he has now he got that on his own a while back and he’s gone to the range and got some training on it several time. Hope you never have to use it, but this time I’m glad he had it,” the victim’s father said.