The video shows what led to Nancy King being shot in Spokane Prison
KREM 2 received surveillance video of the shooting, the post-incident response, and the Spokane County Attorney’s report.
WARNING: This story contains graphic images of Nancy King’s encounter with a Spokane County Detention Service Corrector.
SPOKANE, Washington. – New documents and videos released by Spokane County Detention Services reveal what led to the death of a 70-year-old woman outside Spokane County Prison in December 2020.
Nancy King was met by Sgt. Justin White after pulling a knife on him at the entrance to the prison lobby on December 4, 2020. White was found justified by the Spokane County Prosecutor to use force.
In a request for public records, KREM 2 received a surveillance video of the shooting, police reaction to the incident, and the report written by Spokane County Attorney Larry Haskell more than three months after the shooting.
Both the video and Haskell’s account provide a glimpse into what King did before she went to Spokane County Jail, how quickly the incident escalated, and Sgt. White describes what happened.
RELATED: Prosecutor: Spokane Police believed a woman killed outside of prison had a mental health problem prior to the shooting
King moves before shooting
Prior to the shooting, King reportedly called two bombings, one at Frontier Behavioral Health on East North Foothills Drive at 4:45 p.m. and the other at the Deaconess Hospital emergency room at 6:50 p.m. Both phone calls were traced, the report said it came from a room at the Ramada Inn on East 3rd Avenue where King lived.
When the officers answered King’s room, she refused to open the door. Officials who responded said they learned that King had been contacted by the Spokane Police Department’s Behavioral Health Unit a few weeks earlier. They provided her with a hotel room and let her speak to a counselor.
According to the report, officials believed there might be a mental health problem. The Spokane Police Department requested a Designated Crisis Responder, but it was denied. DCRs are made available to the city through an agreement with Frontier Behavioral Health. When officers contacted the crisis line, officers were told that they would not respond because they “did not believe their threats were credible, given the numerous past threats and the fact that they were 70 years old and were not appropriate Their threats were viable, ”the report said.
“We did everything we could to promote mental health, but they refused to respond,” an official said in the report.
KREM 2 asked Frontier for a comment late Tuesday afternoon but has not yet heard from it. A Frontier spokesperson previously told KREM 2 that they would not answer questions about the case or the DCR process in general, and made “confidentiality reasons”.
Crisis relief workers are separated from the SPD behavioral health department and a more advanced team from Frontier.
The SPD couldn’t talk about King’s case, but the BHU sergeant said threats were being shouted frequently.
“It’s not uncommon for individuals to call 911 multiple times a day with specific threats or damage reports. They don’t make those threats often,” Spokane Police Sgt. Jay Kernkamp said.
The officers worked for an hour to contact King in her hotel room, but she did not answer. While the officers were investigating the bombing raids at the Ramada Inn, a gun call came over the radio.
RELATED: Activists: “No Justification” for the fatal shooting of a 70-year-old woman in Spokane County Jail
King goes to Spokane County Jail
The report says King left the Ramada Inn at 7:15 p.m. and arrived at the Spokane County Jail at 7.44 p.m.
According to the woman who worked at the front desk, King repeatedly asked to come in and was told that she could not do so due to COVID restrictions. King then knocked on the door and, according to the report, rang repeatedly.
The woman at the front desk asked an officer to come down and speak to her, the report said.
WARNING: The following video contains Artwork from Nancy King’s encounter with a Spokane County Detention Service Corrector.
Click here to watch the video
The surveillance video shows White walking to the front door of the prison lobby and opening the door. Less than 30 seconds later, King had drawn a knife and White had fired three shots at her.
According to White’s account of the shooting, as detailed in Haskell’s report, King pulled the knife on him after settling into it about COVID restrictions.
“It shocked and surprised me,” White wrote in the report.
White quickly backs down and cannot close the lobby door. King walks through the door and you can clearly see that she is holding something in her right hand and pointing it on white.
“Fearing for my life and knowing that I couldn’t step back much further because of the obstacles behind me, I fired my service weapon at the woman. I couldn’t tell if the first shot hit her, but she kept moving the knife toward me. I fired a second shot. I couldn’t tell if the second shot hit her; again she came up to me with the knife. I fired a third time and almost immediately tripped over a table and fell backwards to the floor. I got up as fast as I could and was ready to fire my gun at her again if she got closer and threatened to attack me, ”White wrote.
White said in the report that he told King to drop the knife at least twice and she had a “determined look on her face”.
About two minutes after the shooting, corrections officials begin life-saving measures, but King died on the scene. According to the report, a knife with a 3 to 4 inch blade was recovered from the scene.
RELATED: The Chattaroy Property Owner, Spokane County Representative, Describes What Leaded Up To The Shootings
The community reacts to the shooting
After the shooting, several activist groups and the king’s nephew publicly questioned why lethal violence was necessary. King was 70 years old and her nephew has stated that she has had a history of mental illness.
The king’s death received national attention with a Washington Post report released on Wednesday, December 9th.
Human rights activist Coterie of Spokane wrote a letter on Saturday, December 5th in response to the incident, which read in part: “There is no justification for confirming this murder. Spokane County officials are stun guns and should be well trained be. “
The letter is signed by, among others, Kurtis Robinson, NAACP President of Spokane, Dustin Jolly of Occupy Spokane, representatives of the Spokane Community Against Racism (SCAR) and Liz More of the Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane.
The letter raises concerns about a “lack of due process” as activists say the woman could not have reached the front lobby of the prison until she passed several checkpoints.
Activists also emphasized what they call the “lack of correct, timely, or adequate COVID-19 prevention and response” in corrective facilities in Spokane County.