'I didn't think this would happen'

By RALPH BARTHOLDT

Hagadone News Network

An 18-year-old Spokane man who was shot almost a dozen times Thursday evening by police in City Park following Coeur d’Alene’s Fourth of July fireworks show is listed in critical condition at Kootenai Health.

Tyler Rambo, who also uses the name Reece Rambo on his Facebook page, allegedly fired one shot at police about 10 p.m. Officers then shot him.

Police said Rambo had shot another man moments before at Independence Point with a .357 handgun. The shot grazed the man’s leg. Officers then pursued Rambo for some 300 feet, repeatedly commanding him to drop his firearm.

The man allegedly shot by Rambo disappeared into the crowd. Coeur d’Alene Police are asking anyone with information regarding the man’s whereabouts to call the department.

Police said when Rambo stopped near the basketball courts in City Park, surrounded by hundreds of pedestrians, he raised his firearm and fired off a round.

Seven officers opened fire, striking Rambo at least 10 times, Coeur d’Alene Police Chief Lee White said.

“City Park was still filled with people at the time,” White said. “He started to level the gun at the officers, or the crowd.”

White said police had tried to stop Rambo, first by giving him at least 15 commands to drop his firearm and then by using a Tazer. It wasn’t clear if the Tazer struck Rambo before he raised the .357 in the direction of police.

When officers returned fire, the throng of people in the park and on City Beach — where many fireworks watchers had gathered — began to scream and run.

“It was like a wave of people,” Anastasia Saher said. “We heard the pop, pop, pop, it sounded like firecrackers, then all these people started running. It was pretty scary.”

Eric Bumbaugh, 14, who had met some friends after the fireworks show, said 40 steps separated him from the police and the suspect when the shooting occurred.

He took cover after hearing the shots, jumping over the concrete retaining wall that separates the beach from the park’s boulevard.

“People were running and crying,” he said.

One of his friends told him the suspect was down and that he thought he could see a bullet wound in his leg.

White said the entire incident lasted about a minute, from the initial shot at Independence Point that alerted police and started the foot pursuit across the park, to the gunfight.

White said the majority of on-duty officers Thursday evening were in the vicinity of the fireworks festival, which usually draws thousands of spectators to the city’s lakefront park area.

“That’s why we responded so quickly,” he said.

White said officers’ actions were at least partly responsible for stopping the threat that could have resulted in the injury or death of bystanders.

“We are extremely lucky,” he said.

Bumbaugh said violence was the last thing he expected at the annual Fourth of July gala.

“I didn’t think this would happen in Coeur d’Alene,” he said.

Most of the police department’s force focused on the City Park incident, leaving much of the city unpatrolled. Kootenai County Sheriff Ben Wolfinger said his department filled in the gaps, covering the rest of the city for an hour or hour and a half.

“Unfortunately, the rest of the world doesn’t stop,” Wolfinger said. “The good news is we work well together.”