An off-duty Stevens County detective shot and killed a man Tuesday night at a rural home near the Columbia River, according to Spokane County investigators called in to handle the case.
A neighbor called the detective for help, claiming a stranger was trying to kick in his door. When the detective arrived at the neighbor's home, the man turned from the doorstep and began firing a shotgun at the detective, Spokane County sheriff's spokesman Deputy Craig Chamberlin said.
"He actually had to run around his vehicle to protect himself," Chamberlin said of the detective.
The detective fired back and killed the man, Chamberlin said. The detective was hit in the hand and ear by shotgun pellets and is being treated at Mount Carmel Hospital in Colville.
No one involved in the case has been identified.
The shooting unfolded at an isolated home on Scott Road in the hills just east of Lake Roosevelt off state Route 25 near the community of Rice.
Copyright 2014 - The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.