Armed man shot by police at Coeur d’Alene City Park on Fourth of July
COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho July 6 2019— An armed who allegedly fired shots at police was shot multiple times by police in Coeur d’Alene City Park following the annual Fourth of July fireworks show.
Coeur d’Alene police say the man was taken to Kootenai Health after he was shot multiple times at approximately 10:10 p.m. on Thursday. There is no information about his condition.
Officers in the area of Independence Point heard a gunshot, police said. Several officers in the area saw a man running away and chased him into City Park.
“At one point the suspect turned towards the officers and fired a handgun. Several officers then fired at the suspect, hitting him multiple times,” a release from the Coeur d’Alene Police Department reads.
Police said no officers were injured during the altercation in the Critical Incident Task Force is investigating.
Idaho State Police told KREM’s Casey Decker that the department would lead the investigation.
There were tens of thousands of people downtown during the incident and it took a while for police to arrive, Decker said.
Multiple roads, including I-90 Exit 11 were closed, but it is unclear if that was preplanned or due to the police presence, Decker reports.
Decker also reported multiple agencies and dozens of cars near Independence Point on Thursday night.
KREM’s Nicole Hernandez spoke with a mom who was at City Park when the shooting happened.
“My son and I and my husband and a friend of ours were sitting over at the sea wall by the stairs. He came over here and the first shots were fired over here by the Porta Potties,” Tabatha Van Meer said.
“My son was in the Porta Potty that the bullets came towards. I flipped. My son, my 19-year-old, ran towards the danger,” she continued. He was trying to get his brother before any of us. He could weave in and out faster.”
A group of men told Hernandez that they also heard the gunshot from near the Porta Potties, grabbed the kids they were with and ran to a nearby tree for cover. Police then told them to run, so they ran across the street until the scene cleared.
Police have been scanning the area with flashlights since about 1 a.m. on Friday, Hernandez said.
