SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. - Two Spokane Valley police officers who say they were forced to shoot a domestic violence suspect over the weekend are on paid leave.
It happened at the Roost apartment complex near Broadway and Argonne Saturday night.
Police have now released the name of the man who police shot. He has been identified as 65-year-old Donald Lafavor. He is listed in critical, but stable condition.
All of the neighbors who talked to KREM 2 News say Lafavor appeared to be a nice man. Neighbor Alfonso White says he was shocked to hear his friend had been shot. White and several other neighbors say from time to time they would hear Lafavor arguing with a woman inside his apartment, but the woman did not live there.
Another neighbor says the argument seemed bad enough late Saturday night for him to call 911. The neighbor says two police officers arrived. One was standing on the sidewalk between two shrubs, another standing closer near the front door.Others say they heard between four and six gunshots.
All investigators have released so far about the shooting is Lafavor confronted the two officers with a handgun. Those officers say they felt threatened for their lives and fired their weapons at him. KREM 2 News counted six bullet holes on the siding near the doorway, two more on the door. The neighbor who called 911 tells KREM 2 News, he heard officers say Lafavor was shot twice in the torso and once in the shoulder, but police would not yet confirm that. Paramedics rushed Lafavor to the hospital.
Neighbors say they never had a problem with Lafavor, and that the only things he liked to do was drink and smoke. Lafavor does not have a criminal history in Spokane County. The names of the Valley officers involved in the shooting are expected to be releases Wednesday. They were not hurt in the incident.
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