SPOKANE, Wash. — WARNING: This story contains graphic descriptions of violence.
The suspect accused of killing a man outside of a Gonzaga-area bar had threatened to kill him while inside the bar early Monday morning, court documents say.
Ivan Lopez-Gutierrez, 38, appeared in court for the first time Tuesday afternoon on the charge of second-degree murder. A judge set his bond at $1 million.
Spokane police officers responded to the 1300 block of North Hamilton Street at about 1:30 a.m. Monday after multiple callers reported a shooting, according to a press release from SPD. Officers found a deceased man at the scene.
Court documents filed in Spokane County District Court Tuesday said Lopez-Gutierrez had gone to The Star Bar on North Hamilton Street with a woman and her nephew who he met up with at the Cheney Rodeo. Lopez-Gutierrez told the two he had a gun in his SUV and he had pills on him that would make them hallucinate and forget things, documents say. Both the woman and her nephew declined the drugs.
While they were there, court documents say the woman told police she invited the victim to the bar and Lopez-Gutierrez appeared to be jealous he was there and they did not speak to each other. The nephew told police Lopez-Gutierrez threatened to decapitate the victim, according to documents. The woman told police he went to the dance floor and while she was there, she saw Lopez-Gutierrez punch the victim in the shoulder, according to court documents.
Court documents say the victim decided he was going to leave and called a family member to come pick him up. Lopez-Gutierrez confronted the victim in the parking lot of the bar where he shot the victim four times, according to court documents.
The victim’s family member who went to pick him up was able to capture the Lopez-Gutierrez fleeing the scene on a cell phone video, documents say. Police were able to trace the car back to Lopez-Gutierrez and they located him about 20 minutes after the shooting, SPD wrote in a press release.
According to court documents, Lopez-Gutierrez appeared “very intoxicated” when an officer interviewed him. Lopez-Gutierrez told police he didn’t remember what happened after he drank at The Star Bar and he doesn’t remember shooting anyone, documents say. Lopez-Gutierrez told officers he has been hearing voice and has schizophrenia, according to documents. He also told officers he was in possession of a small blue pill, which he started taking about four months ago and he started having memory loss, documents say.
The Spokane County Medical Examiner will identify the victim when appropriate.