By MES Dispatch Staff
The Briefing
- One Spokane County, Washington, sheriff’s deputy has died and a second is not expected to survive after both were shot Tuesday afternoon while trying to breach the door of a home in Spangle.
- The second deputy is being kept on life support so his organs can be donated, the sheriff’s office said.
- Deputies went to the home after a woman told a neighbor her brother had shot her; the suspect had a felony warrant.
- Other deputies returned fire and found the suspect dead inside the house.
- The deputies’ names, the suspect’s name and the victims’ names have not been released, and the shooting is under investigation.
SPANGLE, Wash. — One of two Spokane County sheriff’s deputies shot during a confrontation at a Spangle home has died, and the other is not expected to survive, authorities said Wednesday, according to the Associated Press.
Deputies went to the home in the small farming community south of Spokane on Tuesday afternoon after a woman told her neighbor that her brother had shot her, the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office said. They determined the suspect had a felony warrant and that there could be other victims. SWAT team members and deputies tried to breach the door of the home.
Gunfire erupted from inside, and two deputies were struck. They were taken to a hospital in critical condition. One died that night, and the other remained on life support Wednesday so his organs could be donated, the sheriff’s office said in a written statement. “He will continue to serve others with the gift of life,” the statement said.
Neither deputy was identified. Sheriff John Nowels described them as younger members of the SWAT team. The deputy who died leaves a wife and two children. The sheriff’s office said the deputies knew the risks and moved toward danger to protect people they did not know.
Other deputies returned fire and found the suspect dead inside the home, along with one other victim in the house and one in the yard, authorities said. The woman who reported being shot was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.
The names of the victims and the suspect have not been released. Authorities are investigating the shooting and what led up to it.