Richard Rogissart Obituary – The individual who allegedly attacked Spokane County Sheriff’s Office deputies with an axe before being shot and killed by them last week in north Spokane has now been identified. The Spokane County Medical Examiner’s Office has confirmed that Richard Rogissart, aged 55, died as a result of multiple gunshot wounds. According to a news release from the Spokane Independent Investigative Response Team, deputies were called to the 6600 block of North Calispel Street on January 30th after receiving reports of a person threatening a neighbor with a baton.
It was revealed that there had been previous incidents involving the two neighbors, with deputies having responded to the same street the day before for property damage. On that occasion, they had attempted to arrest Rogissart on misdemeanor charges, but he had refused to leave his home. On January 30th, deputies returned to arrest Rogissart on felony charges of second-degree attempted assault and felony harassment with threats to kill. Once again, Rogissart refused to come out of his home, leading the deputies to forcibly open the front door.
It was at this point that Rogissart swung an axe at the deputies, prompting four of them – Hunter Ballou, Matthew Costello, Travis Moser, and Parker Perry – to open fire. During the incident, a sheriff’s office dog was injured, but is expected to fully recover. The axe and baton used by the suspect were recovered by law enforcement.