SPOKANE, Wash. — Three 18-year-olds are in Spokane County jail on $500,000 bonds for their alleged roles in a car chase and fatal shooting near the University District on Feb. 16.
18-year-olds Christopher Gimmaka, Kaden Willoughby and Devin McEwen are facing charges of conspiracy to commit robbery, attempted robbery and assault. McEwen, who drove the car, is also facing a charge for attempting to elude police.
According to court documents, the three teenagers are accused of stealing a man’s tools from one of his cars in the early morning hours of Sunday, Feb. 11. The victim told police he caught them on his ring camera the next night, prowling around his cars again.
“The moment they started prowling my house, watching us everyday, (the property theft) went out the window,” the theft victim, who asked to remain anonymous, said. “For about the next week or so there was several times that our house was targeted and at that point it became more of a safety hazard for me, my family, everybody else.”
The alleged theft victim found the items on Facebook Marketplace, along with a car for sale which he identified as the one the suspects appeared in on his ring camera. The theft victim then had his co-worker contact the sellers after notifying Crime Check.
On Friday the sellers responded and everyone made plans to meet at 1:30 p.m. to inspect the tools. When he arrived at a parking lot near Andrew Rypien Field, the victim saw the car holding Gimmaka, Willoughby, McEwen, an unnamed 16-year-old boy and a woman, court documents identify as “Sally.”
Almost immediately, the victim says, the four of the five suspects put on ski masks.
“They weren’t smart… they were trying to hide their identity after they had already realized that we had seen them,” the robbery victim said.
Court documents state the victim told the teenagers that the masks were a little strange given they were just there to see the tools. He later told NonStop Local he assumed they were looking to rob them. According to court documents, Gimmaka said “he didn’t even have f–ing tools in the back of his f–ing car,” which police say indicated planning of a robbery.
“That’s when (somebody with law enforcement) started calling me and while they were calling me I actually was trying to block it out so they couldn’t see that I was picking up the phone,” he said.
The car with the teenagers started driving away from the scene, at which point the victim’s father pursued them, while the victim was on the phone with someone from law enforcement in the passenger seat, giving Spokane Police updates on the suspects’ location.
The documents state that shots were fired at the victim during the chase through northwest Spokane. Weapon magazines were thrown out of the vehicle as police pursued the car.
“That’s when we decided to make sure they weren’t going to hurt anyone else along the way, which they didn’t really seem to care for at all,” the victim said. “There were kids being picked up from school, running down the street. There were actually people in other cars that you can tell were already fearing for their life in the midst of it.”
Eventually as the suspects made their way closer to Gonzaga’s campus, police were able to get sight of the car.
“It was nice that they were on the phone, they already knew the situation,” the victim said. “Because of that, I was able to say a car down the street and right off the get-go they picked up on it and had probably six officers flip a (u-turn).”
“At that moment it turned into a high-speed chase,” the victim’s father said.
A pit maneuver by a Spokane Police Department (SPD) officer ultimately ended the chase near Hamilton and Springfield, at which point McEwen says “Sally” spoke to him.
“Sally began asking Devin if they were going to be alright and then asked Devin something along the lines of ‘does he want to go with her.’ Before he could answer, Devin indicated [that] Sally shot herself,” court documents said.
Documents also said Gimmaka confirmed with law enforcement that he was high on methamphetamine when he was detained.
All three surviving adult suspects remain in the custody of Spokane County on $500,000 bonds.
