Two dead after crime spree near Washington-Idaho border
KAYE THORNBRUGH | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 year, 3 months AGO
Image courtesy of the Spokane County Sheriff's Office.
Kaye Thornbrugh is a second-generation Kootenai County resident who has been with the Coeur d’Alene Press for six years. She primarily covers Kootenai County’s government, as well as law enforcement, the legal system and North Idaho College. | June 17, 2025 1:09 AM
Police in Spokane Valley fatally shot a man who authorities said had killed a good Samaritan in Kootenai County during a carjacking spree early Sunday.
The spree began around 8:30 a.m. Sunday, according to police, when a suspect who has not been publicly identified stole a vehicle from a father and daughter in Spokane Valley and then fled east toward Idaho.
Deputies pursued the suspect, who reportedly reached speeds of up to 140 mph, and lost sight of him before he crossed into Kootenai County.
Police said the suspect intentionally hit a motorcyclist with the stolen vehicle in the parking lot of Liberty Stop-N-Go at Stateline. The motorcyclist sustained “moderate injuries” and was transported to a hospital for treatment, according to the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office.
The suspect tried to steal multiple other vehicles, according to police, and fatally shot a man named Gary Hill when Hill attempted to intervene in one of the attempted carjackings.
“I believe that he saw a woman that was in distress and went to aid,” Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris said during a news conference Sunday. “Unfortunately, he did pay the highest price for it.”
Hill’s daughter, Laurie Hill, identified her father as the man who intervened in the carjacking in a public Facebook post.
“I’m so grateful that my dad will be remembered as a good Samaritan,” she wrote.
A GoFundMe campaign organized to help cover funeral expenses described Hill’s death as “a heartbreaking loss, even as he died a hero.” Hill was a father to three and a grandfather to three.
After allegedly shooting Hill, police said the suspect stole another vehicle and fled back across the state line into Washington. Once there, he reportedly stole another vehicle.
Police deployed a spike trip at Sullivan Road, but the suspect continued west at high speeds before crashing into a bystander’s vehicle and a Washington State Police trooper’s car, which was there for an unrelated crash.
The suspect was armed when he got out of the stolen vehicle at the intersection of Trent Avenue and Pines Road, according to police.
Police shot and killed the suspect.
The Spokane County Medical Examiner’s Office will release the suspect’s name, as well as details of his death, at a later time.
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