SPOKANE, Wash. — A man and woman were found dead in a downtown Spokane apartment Wednesday, six days after a neighbor reported hearing gunshots coming from the unit to management.
According to court documents, the Spokane Police Major Crimes Unit was called to the Ridpath Club Apartments on W. Sprague Avenue on July 3 for a death investigation.
The Spokane County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the deceased as Joshua Bassett, 32, and Galina Hensz, 21. The medical examiner said they both died from gunshot wounds to the head.
The manner of Hensz's death is listed as a homicide and Basset’s is still pending.
According to documents, Bassett and Hensz lived in an apartment together in the Ridpath Club.
On June 28 around 8:30 p.m., a neighbor said she could hear loud music coming from the couple’s apartment. According to documents, the neighbor thought she heard a muffled bang that she thought was a gunshot. She heard another shot that was louder and the loud music had stopped playing, documents said.
The neighbor then realized a bullet or projectile went through her wall, documents said. She said she reported it to apartment management but documents do not indicate that she called police.
Black Realty, the realty company that manages the Ridpath, sent KREM a statement about the situation on July 10.
"Our sincere condolences go out to the families impacted by this tragic event. As a company that provides property management services we can ALWAYS learn from these unfortunate events. We strive to make sure our staff are trained to respond in an appropriate and timely manner to the needs of our housing residents. Our staff acted quickly and appropriately based on the input they were given," the statement reads in full.
The Washington Department of Social and Health Services confirmed that landlords are not mandatory reporters.
Court documents said a bullet was later located in the window frame of her apartment.
On July 3, police responded to a call at the Ridpath Club Apartments around 7 p.m. on July 3 from Bassett’s mother, who had reported him missing earlier in the day.
She told police Bassett had not communicated with her since June 28 and it was out of character for him, according to court documents.
She said she spoke with apartment management but there was an “apparent miscommunication or non-communication regarding anyone checking on Bassett in his apartment after she stopped communicating with Bassett the previous Friday.”
Spokane police said they did not get any information about what went on in Bassett's apartment until July 3.
"In today’s world with 911 and Crime Check, especially in our community, they’re so readily available, you’re not causing any harm, you’re not wasting anybody’s time to throw out an extra phone call. And that would go for anything, even if you’re out on the street and you see, let’s say you see a medical emergency, or you see what you think is a crime in progress, and you look out and you believe you see people on the phone, we don’t want to assume that those people are calling, go ahead and take the time to call, unless you’re absolutely sure somebody else has,” said Spokane Police Sergeant Terry Preuninger.
Bassett’s mother said he was in the process of buying a car from someone on the South Hill and was supposed to pay for it on June 28, but never did, documents said. Police have requested a search warrant for that vehicle.
According to court documents, Bassett’s mother said she believed her son had owned three handguns, but one was reported stolen back in May. His mother said she didn’t believe he was recently suicidal but he had been in the past, documents said.
Once officers got inside the apartment, documents said they found dried blood on the floor and a semi-automatic handgun near the couple’s bodies.
Bassett’s brother’s fiancé told police the couple had a somewhat “unstable and volatile” relationship, according to court documents. She said the two had gotten engaged back in May but Hensz did not show up on the day they were supposed to get married, documents said.
She said Bassett’s brother told her he was concerned that Bassett may be suicidal.
Investigators have filed a search warrant for the couple’s apartment to seize evidence in the case.
KREM 2 reached out to Ridpath management for comment, who referred us to the Spokane Police Department.