Sheriff's office, regional agencies describe multi‑incident Sept. 27 response that included officer‑involved shooting and a fatality

Medical Lake — Spokane County law‑enforcement officials and local fire chiefs outlined a multi‑agency response to a string of incidents on Sept. 27 that included a brush fire, a burglary on Idaho Street, a shooting at Eastern State Hospital and an officer‑involved shooting that investigators say is being handled under Washington State law.

A Spokane County Sheriff's Office representative told the city council the region uses a cooperative CER investigative team — made up of the Spokane County Sheriff's Office, Washington State Patrol and the Spokane Police Department — to investigate officer‑involved shootings. "With the current law, the way that that it operates, we in this region have what's known as the CER team," the representative said. He said the agency that responds to an officer‑involved shooting is effectively removed from investigating its own officers except for limited early disclosures.

Why it matters: the sequence of calls produced overlapping incidents that stretched patrol resources and required mutual aid, county and city officials said. The sheriff's‑office representative told the council that deputies initially responded to a burglary report on Idaho Street and then learned of separate shots fired at Eastern State Hospital. "We had multiple suspects. We really didn't know what we had," the spokesperson said, describing dispatches to at least three separate scenes and mutual‑aid support from Airway Heights, Cheney and the Washington State Patrol.

The sheriff's‑office representative said eight deputies initially were dispatched to the Idaho Street burglary, and that some deputies later redeployed to Eastern State Hospital after a call that someone had been shot there. Because the Eastern State Hospital incident and the officer‑involved shooting were "so commingled," the Spokane Police Department took both investigations, he said, and some case documentation for the hospital shooting is not available to his office.

The sheriff's‑office representative said investigators will follow the statutory process for disclosure: preliminary press releases and, later, coordinated CER communications including the involved deputy's identity when appropriate. He also said initial scene activity suggested there was not an ongoing active shooter when deputies arrived at one location, which changed how officers staged and approached the scenes.

Dustin Flock, division chief for Fire District 3, described the fire‑service response during the same period. Fire crews extinguished a brush fire near the grocery store shortly after midnight; the department staged personnel at the station during later law‑enforcement activity and provided medical aid at Eastern State Hospital, where emergency medical crews performed CPR, Flock said. He confirmed the patient at Eastern State Hospital did not survive despite fire‑department and AMR efforts.

Officials emphasized resources and training. The sheriff's‑office representative described department training for officer‑involved incidents and the value of cross‑agency exercises; Flock said the district deploys mutual‑aid agreements and has been both a recipient and provider of statewide assistance.

No formal determinations about use of force or criminal liability were announced at the meeting. The sheriff's‑office representative said that because Spokane Police took the lead on the hospital‑scene investigation, the county's public information after the CER investigation will come through that team.

What officials said next: council members asked about victim resources; the sheriff's‑office representative said major‑crimes detectives make referrals to counseling services and that city staff had contacted the Idaho Street family and connected them with trauma counseling resources. Flock said the fire district and city had sheltered residents brought to the fire station during the incidents.

The sheriff's‑office representative declined to release several specific times and pieces of documentation during the presentation, saying he did not have access to the Spokane Police Department's material from the Eastern State Hospital investigation.

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Speakers (as recorded in the meeting) - Spokane County Sheriff's Office representative, law‑enforcement spokesperson (government) - Dustin Flock, Division Chief, Fire District 3 (government)

Authorities - {"type":"statute","name":"Washington State law governing officer‑involved shooting investigations","citation":"not specified","referenced_by":["Spokane County Sheriff's Office representative"]}

Clarifying details - {"category":"incident timeline","detail":"Dispatch for Idaho Street burglary approximately 00:07; first deputies on scene before 01:42 for initial incident; shots heard across the lake reported around 01:49; call reporting shooting at Eastern State Hospital around 01:54","value":"times from dispatch summaries","approximate":true,"source_speaker":"Spokane County Sheriff's Office representative"} - {"category":"fatality","detail":"One security guard at Eastern State Hospital was not revived by on‑scene medical crews","source_speaker":"Dustin Flock"} - {"category":"mutual aid","detail":"Airway Heights PD, Cheney PD and Washington State Patrol provided assistance; Spokane Police Department led hospital investigation","source_speaker":"Spokane County Sheriff's Office representative"}

Proper_names - {"name":"Eastern State Hospital","type":"facility"} - {"name":"Spokane County Sheriff's Office","type":"agency"} - {"name":"Spokane Police Department","type":"agency"} - {"name":"Washington State Patrol","type":"agency"} - {"name":"Airway Heights Police Department","type":"agency"} - {"name":"Cheney Police Department","type":"agency"} - {"name":"AMR","type":"organization"}

Community_relevance - {"geographies":["Medical Lake","Spokane County"],"funding_sources":[],"impact_groups":["residents near Idaho Street","staff and patients at Eastern State Hospital"]}

Provenance - [{"block_id":"s=655.2","local_start":0,"local_end":280,"evidence_excerpt":"So I I was asked to provide a little bit of, of information, a little bit of follow‑up information of, some of the incidents that happened September 27. And so, I wanna start off by kind of explaining how with with an officer involved shooting incident, Washington State law has a very, clear guideline, for law enforcement agencies on how those incidents are being handled and investigated and communicated about and how information sharing can occur.","reason_code":"topicintro"},{"block_id":"s=1523.61","local_start":0,"local_end":20,"evidence_excerpt":"Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Did you have a question? I do. I really appreciate it, Jeff. But as far as the the grant money you might be going for for this while I cover, please let us know if we can write letters to Shaver.","reason_code":"topicfinish"}]

searchable_tags:["officer‑involved shooting","public safety","Eastern State Hospital","mutual aid","Spokane County"],

salience:{},

engagement_forecast:{}