SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. — Evergreen Middle School is on lockdown after a deputy shot and killed a man in the school’s parking lot. School officials said all students and staff are safe.
There is “no ongoing threat to the community,” according to the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office. The Sheriff said the suspect may have called 911 on himself. He said the original call came in as a suspicious person around 11:30 a.m. The caller said the suspect was armed with a “Glock 19” that appeared black and silver. He described the suspect as a white male, in his 20s, 6’06” with a medium build, wearing a green trench coat. The first deputy on scene was a school resource officer.
The Sheriff said that when they approached the suspect “One of our deputies immediately came into contact with a male matching that description. The male immediately aggressed on our deputy and presented a lethal threat, what appeared to be a firearm.”
The deputy then shot and killed the man. The deputy is now on paid administrative leave, which is standard protocol.
The SIIR Team will now investigate the shooting, with the Spokane Police Department serving as the lead agency.
The Central Valley School District is preparing to support students who may have witnessed the shooting. Superintendent John Parker said: “We’re going to be prepared that it might have happened. We have a district flight team, there are several counselors that are going to be coming in to allow students, if that was the case, they’re going to be able to talk with one of our counselors.”
The school put on its website, that students will be taken to Valley Real Life Church to meet their parents. The reunification process is underway.
Several parents came to the school when they heard about the shooting, including Jeremy Fleck, whose wife works at the school and has two sons in sixth and eighth grade. Fleck said: “I never thought anything like that would happen at a school here in Spokane, let alone where my kids and wife go. My heart dropped the moment I heard about it.”
Sheriff John Nowels says they did a controlled explosion near the baseball fields around 1:30 p.m. to ensure a bag they found was rendered safe. It’s not clear if that bag was left there by the suspect or if it was already there.
The Spokane Regional Explosives Disposal Unit disrupted the bag, rendering it safe. After inspecting the contents, it did not appear that the bag contained an explosive device.
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