The Spokane Investigative Regional Response Team, a interagency investigative team, is reviewing the events of last night, at approximately 11:40 p.m., involving the shooting death of an armed male by Cheney Police officers near Mitchell’s Harvest Foods in Cheney.

Here is what is known so far, according to statements by the Cheney Police Department and Mitchell’s Harvest Foods employees witnessing the scene:

• Police responded to a call reporting a male armed with a knife near Mitchell’s.
• The male, described as “disorderly” and of “average build,” approached three Cheney police officers with a knife in hand approximately 20 feet from the front doors.
• Cheney officers shot at the male after failure to cooperate to several commands. Mitchell’s employees estimate hearing 10 to 12 gunshots.
• EWU police officers and Cheney Fire and AMR personnel attempted live-saving techniques on the injured male; he was later pronounced deceased at the scene.
• Mitchell’s employees recall the body unobserved at the scene around 1:15, when they were escorted out of the store.
• Investigators later found bullets near the left and right ends of the store: one bullet’s path ran through the front wall into the ceiling–which an employee claims was just four feet straight above her– and the other bullet was found near a propane tank.

The Easterner will update this story as the investigation unfolds.