Spokane man accused in Suncrest shooting that left one man dead
Mar. 24—A 53-year-old man arrested Tuesday at Northern Quest Casino on an outstanding warrant turned out to be the man Stevens County Sheriff's Deputies were looking for after a deadly shooting last week.
Peter Benway-Allen was arrested Tuesday on an outstanding warrant for a domestic violence residential burglary charge from March 2022 and booked into Spokane County Jail.
Meanwhile in Suncrest, police were investigating a shooting that left 46-year-old Derek J. Johnson dead on March 17.
Just after 5 p.m. March 17 deputies responded to a report of an ongoing assault on Blackstone Way near state Highway 291, according to a news release from the Stevens County Sheriff's Office.
A caller that day told dispatchers they saw someone being beaten outside of a car on the side of the street. When the caller stopped to intervene, the assailant got into a car and sped off. The caller was able to describe the attacker and vehicle to deputies.
Deputies arrived to Blackstone Way near state Highway 291 to find Johnson with multiple bullet wounds and unable to speak. He died at the scene.
Investigators could not immediately figure out who Johnson was because he wasn't carrying identification. Johnson, who lived in Spokane, was identified through fingerprints.
He died of multiple small caliber bullet wounds, according to the news release.
On Wednesday, detectives identified the vehicle at the scene of the shooting as belonging to Benway-Allen.
Detectives learned that Benway-Allen had been arrested the night prior on the outstanding warrant. When investigators located Benway-Allen's vehicle they found evidence related the Suncrest shooting, the Stevens County Sheriff's Office said. Detectives interviewed Benway-Allen and he confessed to the shooting, according to the news release.
Benway-Allen will be charged with murder once he's transferred to the Stevens County Jail, the sheriff's office said.
