The person who peppered the back door of a North Spokane home Saturday with five bullets in an apparent targeted attack killed a year-old boy quietly playing video games on the other side. As Gavin Looper, a Peperzak Middle School student, lay bleeding, his brother and father held his body and told him to fight.
He died an hour later. But the issue of gun violence, Hall said, is something he rarely hears about in the community. Hall tends to hear concerns about lower-level crimes, drugs and homelessness instead. Gavin did not have a gun when he was killed. He also was not engaged in any criminal behavior, Hall said. His mother, Renee Rogers, claims he was merely up late around a. His older brother was watching a movie, and his father was in another room.
(mh=XD7AZ4nEG1yAhh46)10.jpg "Sluts Spokane")
Five gunshots rang out, and other people in the house fled into the street, screaming the boy had been shot. He is awaiting extradition to Spokane. Police believe the shooting was not a random act, according to a previous news release. There were nearly shootings in the city last year, Hall said.
Of those, 45 people sustained some type of gunshot injury. Of the 19 homicides tallied by Spokane Police Department in , 10 involved guns, according to Lt. Nathan Spiering. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, firearm homicide rates are highest among teens and young adults.
Statistically, nearly two out of 10 people suffer nonfatal firearm injuries, and more than seven out of 10 firearm injuries are related to assaults, the CDC says. While there is a stigma that homeless people commit more crimes, Hall said it is typically only lower-level crimes, open-air drug use or street drug trafficking. FBI data shows most homicides involving guns in Spokane occur within a home.
