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Spokane robbery suspect shot by police sentenced to over 13 years in prison

Jonathan Buttrom, 29, pleaded guilty to seven charges as part of a plea agreement.

SPOKANE, Wash. — A suspect shot by Spokane police in Hillyard in August was sentenced to just over 13 years in prison Thursday in connection to the incident, according to Spokane County Sheriff's Corporal Mark Gregory. 

Jonathan Buttrom, 29, plead guilty to second degree assault and first degree unlawful possession of a firearm, four counts of first degree robbery and first degree kidnapping as part of a plea agreement.

Superior Court Judge Maryann Moreno sentence Buttrom was sentenced to 160 months in a Washington State Department of Corrections facility and 36 months of Washington State Department of Corrections Community custody upon release.   

Officers Dale Harvey and Christopher Johnson both fired their weapons during the incident, according to a press release from the Spokane Police Department. 

Harvey has been with the department since November 2011. He previously worked for the Western Washington University Police Department and the Post Falls Police Department. 

Johnson has been with the department since 2007. He is a member of the SWAT team and a graduate of the University of Idaho.

The officers shot Buttrom, who was a suspect in the recent T-Mobile store robberies, after he showed them he had a gun, Spokane police said. 

Spokane police located Buttrom in a car at the intersection of Crestline and Courtland just before 11:30 p.m. Friday night, according to Spokane Police Sgt. Teresa Fuller. Buttrom was in the passenger seat and an uninvolved person was driving.

The driver of the vehicle was able to escape to safety, and officers spent 3-5 minutes attempting to deescalate the situation, according to police. Two officers fired a single shot each at Buttrom, who then surrendered. After being interviewed, the driver was later released and was not charged with a crime. 

A 9 mm pistol was found in the car Buttrom was in while detectives were serving a search warrant on the vehicle, according to the sheriff's office. Officials said there was one round in the chamber and several in the magazine.

According to a press release from the sheriff's office, Buttrom had an active felony warrant for escaping community custody and was a suspect in several armed robberies in Spokane city and county. 

The shooting happened while Curt Hoagland was on his front porch.

“It just seems like progressively getting more and more escalated, and then out of the blue I heard a shot,” Hoagland said. “He sounded panicked. I mean, very high pitched voice screaming tell them back up I will kill myself.'"

In a video taken by Hoagland, once the officers fire their guns—you can see it takes a solid minute for them to approach the suspect once he’s down on the ground.  

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