Officials identify shooting suspect

SANDPOINT — Bonner County Sheriff’s officials have identified the man who died in a shoot-out with law officers on Monday as Mark Eric Betts, a 49-year-old from Hope.

Sheriff’s officials are withholding the names of the deputies involved in the shooting for the time being. An Idaho State Police investigation into the incident is ongoing, Sheriff Elaine Savage said.

“It’s a huge operation when there’s this many agencies involved, and, of course, the death of person puts it up another level. I welcome the thoroughness of it,” Savage said of the ISP probe.

Savage said an internal review will also be conducted to verify standard operating procedures were followed during the incident.

The sheriff’s office confirmed reports late Monday that Betts opened fire on deputies, who returned fire and killed the man.

The deadly incident began at about 1:30 p.m., after employees at the state liquor store in the Bonner Mall reported that Betts left the store without paying for merchandise and threatened one of them.

Betts, according to Idaho State Liquor Dispensary Superintendent Dyke Nally, grabbed two half-gallon bottles of Canadian Hunter whiskey and a bottle of créme de cacao and left the store without paying.

A male clerk and a female manager approached Betts outside the entrance to the store and asked if he would like to pay for the items, Nally said. Betts reportedly ignored them and continued into the mall’s parking lot.

The clerk followed Betts outside, where the man pulled a small wooden club from his back pocket and threatened the clerk with it. Nally said Betts told the clerk, “Would you like some of this?”

“The policy is not to get into a confrontation,” said Nally. “In this case, they followed the procedure perfectly.”

Nally declined to identify the workers who were involved in the incident.

The clerk noted Betts’ license plate number and phoned authorities. Ponderay Police began pursuing Betts and sheriff’s deputies joined the chase, which headed north on U.S. Highway 95.

Ponderay Police deployed spike strips in an attempt to disable Betts’ Chevrolet Blazer, but Betts managed to avoid hitting them, according to sheriff’s officials. The pursuit continued onto Colburn Culver Road, where a Ponderay unit and Betts’ sport utility vehicle collided, sending both rigs into a ditch.

The suspect displayed a weapon through the passenger-side window and opened fire. Sheriff’s deputies returned fire and the suspect was mortally wounded, Savage said.

During the exchange, a shot fired from Betts’ weapon passed through a deputy’s uniform, but it did not strike his body.

“There was no wound, no bruising. But there was a round that did go through his jumpsuit,” said Savage, who quickly added. “We are blessed — very blessed.”

Coincidentally, Monday’s shooting came on the ninth anniversary of the last deadly officer-involved shooting in Bonner County. On July 7, 1999, a Sagle woman was shot and killed after firing on deputies while fleeing a methamphetamine lab.

It remained unclear Tuesday why the incident escalated from a misdemeanor theft of less than $50 worth of alcohol into a fatal confrontation. Betts has no criminal record, aside from tickets for speeding, not wearing a seat belt and other minor infractions, court records show.

“Our interaction with him has only been traffic tickets,” Savage said.