Spokane Police are investigating after a single gun shot was fired at the second floor of PJ’s Pub on Sunday, Nov. 12.
According to the Spokesman Review, “police reported that there had been a conflict between two groups of people before the single shot was fired. Investigators are unsure if the shot and conflict are connected. They have a person of interest and are searching for a suspicious car.”
Earlier in the evening there was a Garth Brooks concert less than a mile away from the pub, that three residents from Kimberley happened to be attending.
The Bulletin spoke with Kimberley Local, Kayla Pendry, who was at the pub when the shooting happened.
Pendry says her first reaction was, “is this it?”
“The Garth Brooks concert was awesome, probably the best concert I’ve been to in my life,” said Pendry. “After the concert we got in an uber and went to a pub called PJ’s. It’s an all American pub; there were a few other customers, a wall of booze and Karaoke.
“We were having fun, having a good time, it was pretty laid back. I snuck out back for a cigarette when I heard a gunshot. I thought, oh my god, what’s going on? I couldn’t tell if it came from inside the pub or outside but I knew it was a shot. I stood outside for about seven minutes or so, not sure what to do. I couldn’t stand it any longer so I went inside the pub and everyone was laying down or hiding. The bartender said to get down. I called my friend’s names and one answered, so I made my way up the stairs to them. I thought, if this is it, I want to be with my friends.”
Pendry says when she got upstairs she saw broken glass and more people hiding before she was reunited with her friends.
“I looked at them and our hearts were in our throats,” Pendry said. “I knew then that the shot came from outside and luckily no one was hit, no one died. It could have been a lot worse, really. There was one guy by the window who had some shards of glass and blood on him.”
That’s when the bartender and manager at PJ’s told everyone to head to the basement, where there were no windows, Pendry says.
“They locked the door so no one could get in and I think they asked us to stay until police came. It was pretty solemn,” said Pendry. “Us three Canadian girls we just wanted to get out so we told the bartender that the police could contact us if they want to interview us and we headed back to our hotel.
“When we got back to the hotel we were all very happy to be alive. You don’t expect something like that to happen to you. The concert was so fun, and that definitely put a damper on the rest of the trip; we just wanted to get home,” said Pendry.
Pendry says the staff at the pub was “phenomenal”.
“They were very professional, everyone kept their cool and they were really good to us,” said Pendry, who explained that the bartender said nothing like that had ever happened before.
When asked if she will be returning to the US any time soon Pendry said, “it could have happened anywhere. It’s not going to stop me from travelling and doing what I want to do. I just so happened to be there [when the shooting took place]. When we got across the border we were thankful and wanted to kiss the ground we walk on. But it’s not safe anywhere.”
Pendry says she won’t forget that event for a very long time and is happy to be home, to give her family a hug, and to tell her loved ones she loves them.
