SPOKANE, Wash. — The suspect accused of shooting and killing a man on North Division Street in July 2023 pled guilty to second-degree murder Thursday.
Forty-three-year-old Jose M. Matthews was sentenced to 11 years in prison with 36 months community custody for shooting and killing 27-year-old Darnell W. Pluff.
Documents say the shooting occurred before 11:30 p.m. on July 14. Surveillance video from a bank on Division Street shows two men walking in the area of where the crime took place. Later in the video, one those men approaches Pluff before stepping away. After Pluff falls over from the gunshot, the two men start running away.
Police say no shell casings were found at the scene and that the shooting appeared to be unprovoked. As the investigation continued, detectives were able to connect Matthews to the crime by showing the surveillance video to his ex-girlfriend, who had reported Matthews for assaulting her just days before the shooting took place.
After his ex-girlfriend identified him in the video, Matthews was eventually arrested.
DOWNLOAD THE KREM SMARTPHONE APP
DOWNLOAD FOR IPHONE HERE | DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID HERE
HOW TO ADD THE KREM+ APP TO YOUR STREAMING DEVICE
ROKU: add the channel from the ROKU store or by searching for KREM in the Channel Store.
Fire TV: search for "KREM" to find the free app to add to your account. Another option for Fire TV is to have the app delivered directly to your Fire TV through Amazon.
To report a typo or grammatical error, please email webspokane@krem.com.