Latest news with #SpokanePolice
Yahoo
05-07-2025
- Yahoo
False report of shooting scatters crowd of thousands from downtown Spokane just as fireworks start
Jul. 5—Thousands of panicked people in downtown Spokane to watch the Fourth of July fireworks fled Riverfront Park late Friday after false reports of an active shooter quickly spread through the crowd. Just after 10 p.m. before the start of the official fireworks, the big band MasterClass was finishing up its set in the Lilac Bowl, east of where Washington Street cuts through the park, when people began to rush from the western side of the park. Some yelled that there was an active shooter. With the band still playing, many of those sitting on picnic blankets in the Lilac Bowl began to flee in response, grabbing their children and belongings, as the official fireworks began. Meanwhile, someone with a microphone on the stage warned the crowd to take cover. A minute or two later, the fireworks were halted as sirens began to sound in the background. A "possible physical altercation near the clocktower" likely led to the false report of a shooting, Spokane police said in a news release. Officers, some in tactical gear quickly responded to the Clocktower. About 10 minutes after the initial rush of the crowd, police announced near the Clocktower that that there had not been a shooting and that fireworks would resume. The false reports of a mass shooter, causing panic at the annual fireworks display follows the shooting of three firefighters by an active shooter in Coeur d'Alene less than a week earlier. In May 2024, the Armed Forces Torchlight Parade in downtown Spokane was halted after a shooting at a convenience story along the route. Tara and Todd Huffman, of Nampa, Idaho, were in the Riverfront Park crowd not far from the Clocktower when they heard something that sounded like a firecracker. "Someone said, 'Did you hear that pop?' and then suddenly people just started running that way, in all directions," Tara Huffman said. The Huffmans didn't flee because they were confident that there was no danger, but they said at least half the crowd began to flee in short order. "They didn't even know what they were running from," Todd Huffman said. Some in the crowd said they experienced panic and rushing people. Others experienced an exit that was more orderly. By the time fireworks restarted before 10:30 p.m., there was only a scattering of people left. Even many of those still in the park who knew the report was false were no longer in the mood for patriotic revelry and continued to leave.
Yahoo
14-06-2025
- Yahoo
Body found near La Quinta Inn & Suites in downtown Spokane
Jun. 13—A man was found dead near La Quinta Inn & Suites on Friday morning, according to the Spokane Police Department. Police spokesperson Officer Dan Strassenberg said a caller reported a deceased man in the area of 211 S. Division Street. CPR was administered, but the man was pronounced dead at the scene. It also appeared the man had obvious head injuries, Strassenberg said. Police are investigating to determine whether foul play was involved. No other information was available Friday.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pepper-balls vs. tear gas: How 2020's Black Lives Matter protest in Spokane compares to the immigration demonstration of 2025
Jun. 12—Over the course of 10 hours in Spokane Wednesday, an impromptu display of civil disobedience became a showdown of smoke and hundreds of fleeing protesters, leading to more than 30 arrests outside an ICE facility near Riverfront Park. The smoke has since cleared, leaving some protesters questioning the efficacy of law enforcement's de-escalation tactics and crowd control strategies as well as finger-pointing about who escalated what. To Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown, that depends on where you're standing. "People's perspectives vary dramatically, and it can be based on literally how many feet away they were in different locations, and their experience is very directly related to what they personally experienced and observed," Brown said in an interview Thursday. To some, Brown said the escalation began when a handful of federal agents started shoving a human chain of protesters blocking their exit from the ICE facility's gated parking lot. To others, it was the arrival of Spokane Police about an hour later, or their use of PepperBalls and smoke grenades an hour after that, Brown said. Maybe it was when hundreds of other protesters joined the smaller group, marching up Washington Street toward a police skirmish line, the mayor said. The protest involved hundreds of people occupying the streets and solicited the response of 185 Spokane Police officers, as well as around 50 Spokane Sheriff's office deputies, Sheriff John Nowels said. The 9:30 p.m. curfew Brown called was the first time a Spokane mayor has issued a curfew since May 2020, when a peaceful protest of thousands turned into a riot in downtown Spokane in the wake of the killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. Floyd's killing morphed into a larger Black Lives Matter protest against police brutality disproportionately targeting Black men. Then-mayor Nadine Woodward issued an all-night curfew at the time, an order that many defied. Through the night, people looted, vandalized and destroyed windows of downtown businesses, including the downtown Nike store, the first target of looting. Rioters smashed windows of several businesses, and some business owners boarded their stores with plywood during the chaos. Then-County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich had asked for the assistance of the Washington National Guard. That night, downtown Spokane was enveloped in a haze of tear gas and flash bangs that Spokane Police fired at protesters and looters in an attempt to quell the riot and disperse crowds. The Spokesman-Review reported multiple injuries as police projectiles like rubber bullets and bean bags struck people, including a 13-year-old girl. Countless people inhaled the tear gas. For some protesters on Wednesday, the memory still stung as they implored nonviolence from fellow protesters in their acts of civil disobedience in defying law enforcements' orders. By 7:13 p.m., law enforcement declared the protest an "unlawful assembly" and ordered people to disperse. The orders were announced repeatedly over an intercom as well as from individual law enforcement personnel as they talked to demonstrators. Some protesters peeled away at this order, while others remained and were later joined by a separate mass of hundreds from another protest nearby. Defying the order to disperse was an apparent matter of empathy for Ben Stuckart, the former city council president who organized the earlier protest in an attempt to prevent federal agents from taking two detained refugees he knew to the ICE processing facility in Tacoma. "The crux of the matter is, like yesterday, do I go home, or do I stand up for my friend? And that's, you stand up for your friends and your loved ones, and I think we all need to think of ourselves as one big community," he said. Nowels said Wednesday's demonstration wasn't a riot, but there was plenty of "unlawful activity" that warranted the law enforcement response and then some, ultimately resulting in more than 30 arrests, including two facing felony charges for "unlawful imprisonment." Spokane Police requested help from the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office, but by the time approximately two dozen deputies arrived in Spokane, police said they no longer needed their backup around 8 p.m. "We were there just to offer bodies if needed or any sort of assistance they needed, but they said, 'Actually it's pretty quiet and peaceful here,' so we could leave," said Lt. Jeff Howard, spokesperson from the Kootenai County Sheriff's Department. The hundreds of protesters who stayed for hours after law enforcement's orders to disperse were breaking the law, Nowels said. There were also more serious criminal actions committed by those blocking exits and obstructing ICE vehicles, ultimately preventing federal employees from leaving the building and vehicle in one instance, which is a class C felony, he said. "When you're there blocking doors and windows and exits ... that's a felony," he said. The first orders to disperse came at 7:13 p.m., with the first arrests made around 7:30 p.m. of those surrounding one of the ICE vans with agents inside. At around 8 p.m., law enforcement deployed PepperBalls and smoke canisters that sent stinging smoke and sparks through the streets, prompting protesters to scatter, holding their shirts to their face while coughing and gagging. While still in a preliminary review of law enforcement's reports of the protest, Nowels said his deputies fired at least four rounds of less-lethal munitions at four protesters, including three bean bag canisters and one blue nose foam projectile. Each of these protesters threw recently deployed smoke canisters back to the line of law enforcement, Nowels said. When identified, the four protesters will face felony assault charges, Nowels said. Some Sheriff's deputies on the skirmish line wore bulletproof vests and baseball caps. Others patrolling the scene dressed more tactically in riot gear, carrying firearms and crowd control projectiles with orange tips, as well as other munitions. "Some of the typical things we have would be 40-millimeter blue nose rounds that are foam and potentially bean bag munitions," Nowels said. Nowels said his deputies are trained in de-escalation tactics to verbally subdue the crowd, in his limited review of some video footage, he was pleased to see it put to use by deputies talking with protesters on skirmish lines. "I saw officers and deputies verbally communicate in a very calm way, interacting with the protesters ..." he said. "Our people did everything they could to prevent this from being a violent interaction." Some protesters disagree — including Stuckart, who came prepared to be arrested. He and 15 or so others planted themselves around two federal vans in an attempt to stop the transport. Stuckart said he believes the tension ratcheted up significantly when local law enforcement arrived, and that he hopes they and elected officials are "having a very deep conversation and looking inwardly on how their actions are the ones that escalated the situation." Fellow protester and progressive candidate for City Council Sarah Dixit agreed; she said when law enforcement split the crowd in two, some clad in riot gear, it doesn't inspire calm among the protesters. "It feels difficult to experience de-escalation when folks are fully fitted with rubber bullet guns, I don't know what the correct term is, and fully armed," Dixit said. "Upon seeing that, that doesn't make me feel any safer." Some of the 30 or so arrests were done through conversation between police and protesters, some willingly placing their hands behind their back as police walked them through their arrest. Others were more forceful, pushing protesters to the ground as they resisted officers' handcuffs. "I watched someone get thrown to the ground," Dixit said. "No one was doing any sort of activity that even remotely I could see someone justifying that response." There were several stark differences between this year's demonstration and those from five years ago. The riot of 2020 involved thousands, whereas Wednesday saw hundreds of people. Law enforcement's response also differed; Brown said she had a conversation with Spokane Police Chief Kevin Hall "specifically around not using tear gas," she said in an interview Thursday. Spokane Police also didn't use rubber bullets like in 2020, Hall said at a press conference Wednesday night. While each event prompted a mayoral curfew, Brown's was less enforced by Spokane Police. Some protesters remained at the intersection of Washington Street and North River Drive long after the 9:30 p.m. order to vacate, though police made no moves to disperse the crowd with more projectiles or make any arrests of those defying the curfew. On Saturday, Riverfront Park will become the site of a "No Kings" protest planned around the nation in defiance of a military parade on President Donald Trump's 79th birthday and the U.S. Army's 250th anniversary. At that gathering, expected to draw thousands, Nowels and Stuckart both implored disciplined nonviolence. "Please help the police by discouraging anyone trying to break the law," Nowels said. "No matter how frustrated you are, always be non-violent," Stuckart said. Spokesman-Review Reporters Nick Gibson and Emry Dinman contributed to this report. Elena Perry's work is funded in part by members of the Spokane community via the Community Journalism and Civic Engagement Fund. This story can be republished by other organizations for free under a Creative Commons license. For more information on this, please contact our newspaper's managing editor.
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
More than 30 arrested at immigration protest in Spokane sparked by arrest of 2 immigrants
Jun. 12—Immigration protests erupted in Spokane on Wednesday, sparking a massive police response and 30 arrests. Mayor Lisa Brown issued a 9:30 p.m. curfew for perhaps 1,000 protestors who flooded Riverfront Park and surrounding downtown streets. It's the first such measure since the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of George Floyd's murder. The curfew and police presence had the desired effect as most of the crowd dispersed. By 11 p.m. about 20 protesters remained. "We want everybody to be safe and we thought this was the best path forward in order to achieve that," Brown said. "I made the decision that the safest course of action was by Spokane Police, not ICE, to try to safely disperse the crowd." She made the call in response to hundreds of demonstrators who blocked federal immigration enforcement agents in Spokane on Wednesday evening from leaving a downtown immigration office reportedly with refugees who were detained at court hearings earlier in the day. Spokane Police Chief Kevin Hall said at a late-night news conference that while it appeared that officers deployed tear gas, it was actually smoke grenades. He also said Spokane police officers used pepper balls but did not fire rubber bullets. He said about 185 city officers responded to both incidents. Hall said that he not heard that any other law enforcement agency used rubber bullets. "Certainly there were peaceful folks demonstrating and utilizing their First Amendment rights, and there were also people in the crowd who were committing crimes," Hall said. The protest is arguably the most extreme local showing of resistance, among others in Los Angeles and across the country, to President Donald Trump's sweeping immigration crackdowns since he took office for the second time in January. The day of unrest began on Cataldo Avenue after former City Council President Ben Stuckart sent a social media post at about 1 p.m. asking "that if you care at all about these illegal detainers you meet me at 411 West Cataldo by 2 p.m. I am going to set in front of the bus. Feel free to join me .... "The Latino community needs the rest of our community. Not tonight, not Saturday but right now!!!!" Stuckart was responding to the arrest of 21-year-old Cesar Alexander Alvarez Perez, who is seeking asylum from Venezuela, and Joswar Slater Rodriguez Torres, a Colombian national also in his early twenties. Stuckart said he officially became the Venezuelan's legal guardian three weeks ago, and arrived with him and the man from Colombia for a scheduled "check-in" appointment at the Spokane facility this morning. The two were in the United States on work visas and had full-time employment at the Walmart in Airway Heights until Friday, when their "work permits were revoked," he said. Both young men are hard workers who have been diligent about following the legal process and building better lives, Stuckart said. "You can't help spend time with them and not understand just what great young men they are," Stuckart said. "They've done everything right, and they're escaping horrible situations, and then to have them come in for a checkup and be detained illegally is morally reprehensible." For the first few hours, most of the demonstration remained peaceful, aside from a masked person who covered the driver's side of the bus windshield with a layer of white spray paint about a half hour into the demonstration. More than a dozen protestors joined Stuckart despite warnings from a pair of uniformed federal agents who came out of the building to warn the crowd that obstructing their pathway could lead to arrests and charges. Protesters responded by parking their vehicles in front and behind the bus. "I don't want this bus to leave with my friends," Stuckart said. "And I told everybody I was down here, and if people wanted to join me, they could. It's not right. It's not morally right, what's happening." The Cataldo crowd included several prominent politicians, activists and community leaders, including Spokane County Democratic Party Chair Naida Spencer; state Rep. Timm Orsmby; Spokane City Council candidate Sarah Dixit; union advocate and a former Democratic candidate for local, state and federal offices Ted Cummings; Thrive International Director Mark Finney and Latinos en Spokane Director Jennyfer Mesa. While the protestors share a desire to see the young men let go, and frustrations with federal immigration enforcement, they disagreed as to how. Some were a silent presence, others carried signs and chanted, while others were more direct in showing their displeasure by shouting at the law enforcement officers. The disconnect became evident as barriers were formed in front of the gated parking lot using benches, cones and Lime scooters, taken down by others and then reformed in front of the line of Spokane police and Spokane County Sheriff's deputy cars next to the building. Mesa said both of the young men are clients of Latinos en Spokane. But her presence Wednesday was meant as a gesture for her friends, not just her clients. "They're good kids," she said, choking back tears. "They have been volunteering, they're doing the process and everything legally. I just don't understand why they're being detained." Stuckart said the federal employees in the ICE office would not allow him to accompanying Alvarez Perez during his appointment and they did not disclose why either young men were being detained. Stuckart estimated it took around seven minutes from when they went back for their appointment for federal officials to come out and inform him they were being detained. "And each of them has a stack of legal paperwork at least 2 inches thick, with all their asylum paperwork and their guardianship paperwork, and they clearly didn't look at it," Stuckart said. "They just said, 'We're detaining them.'" Stuckart said he started the legal guardianship process earlier this year after a call from Latinos en Spokane for local residents to assist local "vulnerable juveniles." He volunteers with the organization regularly and said he has greatly enjoyed getting to know Alvarez Perez, who's lived in Spokane for six months. Alvarez Perez came to Spokane by way of Miami, after walking through nine countries on his way from Venezuela and meeting Rodriguez Torres along the way. Stuckart said his main responsibility as a guardian is to provide mentorship. "He's not living with us, and I'm not in charge of his finances or anything," Stuckart said. The gathering grew to about 100 people at about 5 p.m., including about 15 blocking the bus. Stuckart was not in front of the bus at the time, but he remained at the protest. Among the protestors was Alicea Gonzalez, 27, who brought her 5-year-old son Javell and father, Adam Betancort, 46. She wore a Mexico T-shirt to the protest, and the pair brought flags, one of Mexico, the other half-Mexican, half-American. The latter flag is representative of Betancourt and his identity, he said while holding the flapping fabric towards passing cars on the corner of Cataldo Ave and Washington Street, right outside the ICE facility. "I'm American and I'm a Mexican," he said. Though they don't know either of the men detained by ICE, they're familiar with their story; Gonzalez's maternal grandmother crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in the 1950s, floating across the river in a car tire, she said. Betancort's parents are also immigrants from Mexico. "I appreciate that; I wouldn't have the life that I live without her," Gonzalez said. "So I'm just showing my support, letting people know that they have people out here that will stand behind them, and use their voices to speak up for them." Around 5:25 p.m., a group of roughly 150 protesters ran around the back of the building to obstruct three unmarked law enforcement vehicles from leaving a fenced-in parking area abutting the public parking area for Riverfront Park. Protesters shouted "Shame" repeatedly and about 10 of them linked arms in a line in front of the parking lot gate. A handful of agents, faces covered by ski masks and sunglasses, began to push the human chain of demonstrators, knocking their glasses and handmade signs scattering on the ground. Protestors and officers shoved each other in a mass of yelling and chanting for about a minute before the agents retreated into their parking lot and the gate closed. Not long after the agents retreated back inside, a handful of protesters hauled Lime scooters and park benches as a barricade to block vehicles from leaving from the gate. Spokane Police officers arrived shortly before 6:30 p.m., followed by Spokane County sheriff's deputies. The local law enforcement response grew to dozens outside the building by about 6:45 p.m. The group then formed a sort of protective barrier for an exit on the Washington Street side of the building. They carried weapons to shoot less-lethal munitions, with what appeared to be tear gas canisters and large hip bags with unidentified materials inside. As the officers widened their perimeter to encompass much of the yard abutting the Washington Street side of the building, another group of deputies and officers began forcibly removing protestors from around the small bus. A Spokane Police Department officer spoke over the regional SWAT car speaker system at 7:13 p.m. and ordered everyone present to disperse. The officer gave the demonstrators five minutes to do so. Few left the scene when police warned at 7:22 p.m. that they would use force if the crowd did not leave. Stuckart, Spencer and at least a dozen others were arrested just after 7:30 p.m. Brown said she talked with Stuckart earlier in the day and it was clear he was prepared to get arrested in an attempt to prevent the bus from leaving. She also consulted with Washington Attorney General Nick Brown and connected Stuckart to Nick Brown. "Ben did inform me that members of his group intended to peacefully protest, and they intended to stay at the facility until they were arrested," she said at the conference. The mayor said she told Stuckart that Spokane police would comply with the Keep Washington Working Act, strive to keep the peace and "enforce Spokane laws." The Keep Washington Working Act restricts state and local law enforcement in Washington from assisting federal immigration enforcement. She said that arresting protesters blocking immigration detainees from being jailed is not a violation of the state law because protestors were violating other city laws, like blocking the public right-of-way. She said protesters were warned repeatedly if they were violating laws before arrests were made. "The vast majority were peaceful, expressing their viewpoints as they have every right to do and compliant with officers," Brown said. "There's serious concerns about federal policies. We want people to feel free to express those concerns and we want to keep everyone safe." Police began detaining the 15 or so demonstrators who enveloped an unmarked red van with two ICE officers in the front seat. The windows of the van were tinted, but protestors thought it may soon carry the two men ICE detained. Police warned the demonstrators if they didn't move, they'd be arrested for obstruction. The 15, including Stuckart, had prepared to be arrested, writing phone numbers up their arms and leaving belongings with other protesters. Some went willingly, quietly putting their own hands behind their back as officers led them one by one to a SWAT car parked nearby. One protestor resisted their detainment, wriggling and contorting themselves while yelling as multiple officers pinned them to the group and tied their hands and feet. Eventually, each person who enveloped the red van was detained. Someone deflated one of the van's tires and it was towed off hours later after police had dispersed the crowd in that area. A second, planned protest at Riverfront Park escalated hours after the Stuckart-led event and riot-clad officers began shooting tear gas and making arrests, with the two eventually merging. Harris Kahler, a 23-year-old protestor said he was standing in the front lines when officers pulled out paint guns and shot the ground in front of the line around 8:40 p.m. After that, smoke canisters were thrown and Kahler kicked one back in response. Kahler then went to grab another, turned around and believed he was shot in the lower back with a rubber bullet. "I'm in a lot of pain, but if I physically have to be here, I'll be the shield I got to be," Kahler said. In a telephone interview, City Council President Betsy Wilkerson said she acknowledged the right of everyone to protest. "If I wasn't somewhere else, I might be there myself to support our sisters and brothers," she said. "I'm just hoping for the best outcome, elevating the issue and getting people involved in the way they feel they best can, and that's a protest. "With that being said, we're not trying to throw more wood on this fire, to elevate it to more than a peaceful protest." Reached by phone, City Councilman Jonathan Bingle said he fully supports the right of every American to peacefully protest. "It's one of the rights that makes our country so great! But, the moment a protest turns into small vandalism, threats, or lawlessness, it is no longer protected speech. It becomes a crime, and should be dealt with as such," Bingle said. "I am stunned by the position of some of our current and former elected officials in our city. Instead of standing for the rule of law and the officers who keep our streets safe, they seem more interested in scoring points or justifying bad behavior. That is not leadership." City Councilman Paul Dillon in an interview that he supported those who were willing to stand up for their beliefs. "No human being is illegal," he said. "This is a direct result of the escalation and fears the Trump administration inflicts on communities which create chaos." Reporters Elena Perry, Thomas Clouse, Emry Dinman and Corbin Vanderby contributed to this report. Elena Perry's work is funded in part by members of the Spokane community via the Community Journalism and Civic Engagement Fund. This story can be republished by other organizations for free under a Creative Commons license. For more information on this, please contact our newspaper's managing editor.
Fox News
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Chaos erupts as ICE protesters prompt state of emergency in Spokane, Washington
Spokane, Washington has now been declared a state of emergency after protesters failed to cooperate with Mayor Lisa Brown's curfew that began at 9:30 p.m. Wednesday until 5 a.m. Brown issued the curfew amid ICE protests downtown from Boone Ave to Spokane Falls Blvd and Howard St to Division St, as well as Riverfront Park. The protests began after former Spokane City Councilman Ben Stuckart issued a call to action asking for support for the detainment of a Venezuelan man seeking asylum. "ACTION ALERT: Three weeks ago I became the legal guardian to a young man from Venezuela seeking asylum. He has turned in all paperwork and has a future court hearing. I went with him to ICE check in today. They detained him and are shipping him to Tacoma," his post read. "I am asking that if you care at all about these illegal detainers you meet me at 411 West Cataldo by 2pm. I am going to sit in front of the bus. Feel free to join me…….The Latino community needs the rest of our community now. Not tonight, not Saturday but right now!!!!" Stuckart became the legal guardian of the 21-year-old Venezuelan man 3 weeks ago. Spokane Police Department and the county sheriff's office are currently on the scene and are also calling the gathering unlawful. Spokane County Commissioner Josh Kerns issued a statement referencing the two active riots in the City of Spokane. "The unrest we have seen in the City of Spokane is unacceptable," said Commissioner Kerns. "I stand with the dedicated men and women of law enforcement who put themselves in harm's way to protect lives, businesses, and public safety." He continued, "Thank you to our police officers, deputies, and their families tonight. We support you and have your back". Commissioner Kerns also stated, "I strongly support every American's First Amendment right to speak freely and protest peacefully—but that right does not include violence, obstruction of law enforcement, destruction of property, or putting others at risk. We must uphold both our freedoms and our responsibility to exercise them lawfully." Brown also released a statement on the gathering. "I am aware of the situation unfolding outside of the Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Spokane. The City of Spokane respects and upholds everyone's First Amendment rights and right to be on public property. "The City of Spokane continues to uphold the Keep Washington Working Act. The Spokane Police Department will address violations of Spokane Municipal Code. "I encourage everyone to remain peaceful and safe, and my heart goes out to families being separated. Our unity is stronger than any attempt to divide us." Several protesters have been taken into custody on "failure to disperse" charge and SPD has deployed tear gas on the crowd.
