A suspect with an active felony warrant shot and killed two people and critically wounded two SWAT deputies in Spokane County, Washington, on Tuesday — another violent encounter where law enforcement paid the price for a system that can't keep wanted felons off the streets.
The suspect was already wanted on a felony warrant when deputies responded to the home around 2:30 p.m., according to Sheriff John Nowels. A woman had told her neighbor she'd been shot by her brother. When SWAT team members and deputies approached the house and tried to breach the door, the suspect opened fire. Deputies returned fire and pulled their wounded colleagues to safety.
Two people were found dead — one inside the home, one in the yard. The suspect is also dead. Neither the Post nor WTOP reported the suspect's name, the nature of the felony warrant, or which jurisdiction issued it. Both outlets ran essentially identical copy, with no additional reporting on why a felon with an active warrant was free to commit mayhem in the first place.
The two wounded deputies are young members of the SWAT team, Nowels said. Both are in the hospital fighting for their lives. The woman who reported being shot by her brother was also hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.
"It's a very tragic day in Spokane County. A lot of families have been affected," Nowels said. "Both of our deputies, fighting for their lives."
The felony warrant is the detail that matters most — and the one both outlets buried. An active felony warrant means the justice system already had a reason to take this suspect into custody. Instead, he was free to shoot his sister, kill two people, and gun down two deputies. Every time a wanted felon walks the streets until someone dies, the same question surfaces: who decided this suspect didn't need to be picked up?
Sheriff Nowels said authorities are investigating the shooting and what may have caused it. The harder investigation would be into the chain of failures that left a felon with an active warrant at large long enough to turn a Spokane County home into a kill zone.
Names of the victims and the suspect have not been released.
