Murder suspect Jeremy Arnold shot by police in front of neighbors, reporters
Spokane police shot and killed a man who they say drove through police barricades at the scene of a woman’s murder and got out of his truck with what appeared to be a gun.
Police Chief Frank Straub says the man, Jeremy Arnold, 37, was the suspect in the woman’s murder. Her body was found inside a home Tuesday morning.
Tracy Fergerstrom, 46, had been stabbed multiple times. Her body was found by a neighbor wrapped in a blanket.
Neighbors told CBS affiliate KREM that the female murder victim was dating the suspect.
Detectives could be heard at the scene yelling “That’s the guy! That’s the guy” as Arnold emerged from his vehicle with a handgun. Police spokesman Tim Schwering says the firearm was found next to the man’s body after he was shot about twenty yards away from the press.
Reporters and photographers had gathered nearby after learning police were investigating a death at the house.
“[People] started yelling, ‘get down, get down!'” Henry Sasser, who witnessed the police shooting as he was walking home, told KREM. “When [the suspect] came out [of the car], he was crouched down. He had a grey object in his hand. It was pretty clear it was a handgun of some kind. As soon as officers saw the weapon, they started shooting him.”
The officers fired about eight to ten shots at close range and killed the man.
Arnold has been described in other news reports as a “danger to the community” after being convicted of several violent felonies including assault and a drive-by shooting.
In 2005, he escaped custody on a week-long court-approved furlough to get married before going to prison, but then disappeared. When police went to the home of his new bride, they didn’t find Arnold. Instead, they found a GPS device he was supposed to be wearing,
