SPOKANE, Wash. — Multiple Spokane Police Department officers will not be charged in connection to a shooting that happened in downtown Spokane in October 2022.
According to the Spokane County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, the prosecutor determined that SPD detectives Corrigan Mohondro and Juan Rodriguez, Corporal Brandon Lynch and Officers Brandon Fabian, Daniel Valencia, Adres Valencia and Shawn Maguire "were justified in their use of deadly force against Israel Garcia, following an exchange of gunfire with Garcia while attempting to arrest him for possession of, and attempting to deliver, a large number of fentanyl pills Garcia had brought to Spokane from the Yakima area."
According to the prosecuting attorney's office, law enforcement agencies and the DEA planned to intercept a major narcotics delivery with the help of someone else, identified as a cooperating individual, the morning of October 16, 2022.
The prosecuting attorney's office said a black Chrysler 300 pulled in front of an apartment building on West 1st Avenue and South Cedar Street, where multiple unmarked police cars tried to pin the car to avoid a high-speed chase in the area.
Garcia got out of the vehicle from the passenger's side of the car and fired multiple shots at police, injuring Fabian. The prosecuting attorney's office said police fired back multiple times in self defense.
Aid was given to both Garcia and Fabian. Fabian sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
Investigators later seized two pistols, around 15,000 fentanyl pills and multiple cell phones from the car.
Garcia was federally charged with multiple felony accounts. The prosecuting attorney's office said the case is pending in federal court right now, and state charges are expected to follow.