On Saturday, the Spokane Police Department investigated a road rage incident in north Spokane which quickly escalated into a very dangerous situation. When people from two different vehicles confronted each other, one pulled out a gun and threatened the other. The next day Officers were able to track down the suspect and take him into custody. A search warrant was conducted on a residence and numerous firearms were found. The suspect was ultimately booked into jail and his guns taken for evidence.
On May 11th Officers responded to north Market St in the Hillyard neighborhood for a person with a weapon call. The victim and witnesses indicated that this started as a road rage incident and the suspect (25 year old Jose Corrales) was pursuing the victims in his vehicle. The vehicles eventually came to a stop and the victim decided to get out of the car and ask the suspect why he was chasing them. When the victim got to the driver side door of the vehicle, Corrales had a handgun sitting on his lap. Corrales racked the gun and then pointed it through the door, at the victim.
The victim turned and returned to their vehicle and Corrales then fled the scene. Photographs were taken of the suspect vehicle. Officer attempted on Saturday to locate Corrales, but were not able to.
On Sunday May 12th Officers conducted follow up and learned Corrales could be staying at a residence in the 2000 block of north Vista in Spokane Valley. Officers responded out there and eventually located and arrested Corrales. He was booked into jail for 2nd degree assault, which is a result of pointing a firearm (deadly weapon) at another person.
Officers completed a search warrant of the residence and a vehicle. The gun described in the assault was a black handgun. Five black handguns were located during the search warrant and taken for evidence. Officers also located seven long guns which included four hunting style rifles, two semi-automatic rifles and a shot gun. Through the course of the investigation Officers learned that Corrales had made statements which included that he was going to have a shootout with Law Enforcement, along with other statements that cause concern. Because of this public safety risk, the long guns were taken as safekeeping and are going to be held until Corrales has a hearing with a Judge.
Cpl Van Tassel
Spokane Police Department