SPOKANE, Wash. — The girlfriend of the man who was shot and killed by Spokane police officers in Hillyard wants people to know her side of what happened.
The man's girlfriend, Sarah McLaughlin, said the name of the man shot by Spokane police was Robert Bradley.
McLaughlin told KREM 2 she and Bradley were finishing up a busy weekend of camping and enjoying downtown Spokane.
"We had just gotten back from Pig Out in the Park," she said. "We were camping, so he was bringing the guns inside from the van."
At that time, McLaughlin said she noticed police officers coming down the street. Police said they asked the man to lower his weapon. When he didn't comply, two officers shot him.
When comparing McLaughlin's story to the pictures and videos KREM 2 gathered, Bradley can be seen walking out of the house, unlocking the van and opening the door. As McLaughlin said, he seems to stand at the passenger door for a little over a minute. At 1:24 of the video, three Spokane officers enter the scene.
Five seconds later, the first few shots flash before another round just seconds after.
"They didn't give him any time to react at all," McLaughlin said.
Spokane police said they acted quickly because they had received a report from a neighbor that Robert was outside with an AR-15-style.
"No, he wasn't just wandering around with a gun," McLaughlin said. "He was just loading stuff in and out like you do after you camp and stuff."
The person who called the police is the couple's next-door neighbor, according to McLaughlin.
"Leading up to this was a property line dispute," she said.
Bradley had left a note to the neighbor threatening to tow and trash anything over his property line, according to McLaughlin. She added both Bradley and the neighbor started the process of anti-harassment orders.
"Nobody was threatened," she said. "There was no reason for anybody to get hurt."
Now, Bradley's family is left with frustration.
"He didn't even have enough time to put his hands up before they shot him," McLaughlin said. "There were kids in the house, dogs in the house, me at the front door with bullets flying everywhere for no reason."
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