SPOKANE, Wash. – Court documents are showing what lead up to the deadly shooting in North Spokane on March 1.
Dumont Whitt, 42, is charged with second degree murder and is being held in the Spokane Jail on $750,000 bond.
Court documents said when officers arrived at an apartment complex on East Wedgewood around 11:30 p.m., Michael Shackelford was being carried by Keman Rhode and Guadalupe Cloud. Officials said Shackelford had two gunshot wounds to the chest and was still alive. He was later transported to Sacred Heart for treatment but later died from his injuries.
Court documents said Rhone told officer he had dropped Shackelford off at the apartment so he could see his 2-year-old child. He said when he drove to another side of the complex and he heard gunshots. Court documents said he parked his car and went to investigate the sound. Rhode said he saw Shackelford lying on the ground near the apartment where his child lives and saw Cloud near Shackelford but she was not helping him.
Court documents said Cloud told officers that Shackelford showed up at her home as an unwanted guest. She said she was previously in a relationship with him and they had a child together. According to court documents, Cloud told officers that on February 24 Shackelford had punched her in the face several times. Officers said they saw an injury to her eye. She said she was staying at the apartment with Dumont Whitt and two children, ages two and 13.
Cloud told officers that when they heard a knock at the door, Whitt answered the door and said it was Shackelford. According to court documents, she went back into a bedroom where the 13-year-old was staying and then she heard two gunshots. Then, she said she saw Shackelford injured on the walkway outside her apartment. Court documents said she saw Whitt walking away from the apartment.
According to court records, the 13-year-old in the home said she saw the shooting and Whitt had put the gun in a sock and told her to hide it. She told officers she put the gun under the dumpster in the parking lot south of their apartment.
Officers then caught up with Whitt in his car in the area of 3800 E. Euclid. Court documents said Whitt made an unsolicited comment to officer that he should have called police. He was then detained and taken to the Detectives Office for an interview.
During the interview, court documents said Whitt had been dating Cloud for about a year and lives at her apartment part time. He said he did not know Shackelford and had only seen him a few times in the past. Court documents said a few days before, Cloud called him and told him Shackelford had assaulted her and it upset him. Whitt said he got Shackelford’s phone number and called him. Court documents said during the call, Shackelford threatened to kill him. According to court records, Whitt said a few days later he got a .40 caliber pistol with an extended magazine for protection. Court documents said Whitt knew he was a convicted felon and that prevented him from obtaining a gun but got it anyway.
Whitt said when he answered the door, he saw Shackelford flinch and he immediately shot him within seconds of opening the door, court documents said. He said he fired at least two more times.
