SPOKANE, Wash. — The suspect accused of fatally shooting a man outside of a downtown bar on Saturday night had previously threatened to kill the victim, according to court documents.
The suspect, 25-year-old Michael H. Le, was arrested for second-degree murder. In his first court appearance Monday, a judge set Le's bond at $1 million. Spokane police said shots were fired in the 400 block of W. Sprague Avenue at about 11:30 p.m. on Saturday near Monterey Cafe and Lucky's Pub. Despite the help of first responders, a man died at the scene of the shooting. Spokane police officers chased after Le and caught him a short time later.
A family member identified the victim as 22-year-old Jakobe Ford, a former Shadle Park High School athlete. He had just signed to go pro in track, according to his sister.
PHOTOS: Jakobe Ford remembered by family
According to an affidavit of facts filed on Feb. 10, 2021, Ford was dating a woman Le had a child with and he had threatened them both. Ford told police Le sent him a Facebook message where he threatened to shoot and kill him, documents say.
Le was arrested in February after threatening Ford’s girlfriend with a knife and cutting her hand during a struggle, documents say. Ford and other bystanders jumped in to try and stop Le, documents say. Le was taken to the hospital after the struggle, according to documents.
While at the hospital, Le told police he was jumped by an unknown number of men while he was heading to his friend's home to smoke weed, court records say. Documents say Le told police the assault stopped when a passerby told them to cut it out.
Then, he told another officer he had gone to smoke weed with another friend, and had gone to her apartment but she wasn’t there. While he was leaving, he said he had words with Ford’s girlfriend and nothing else happened, court documents said.
Le was later arrested for second-degree assault and harassment and ordered not to be in possession of any dangerous weapons. He was expected to go to trial in September.