Neighbors step in after fatal South Hill shooting

SPOKANE, Wash. -

"I said the ambulance needs to get here now, his lungs are filling up with blood," says MistyDawn Aff, remembering her neighbor gasping for breath after being shot a number of times in the upper body.

The shooting took place at the corner of S. Elm and 10th Ave just after midnight on Saturday. Aff says before the gunshots rang out, she heard two men, one of them her neighbor, arguing out on the street.

"He was screaming and calling my neighbor some very politically incorrect words," says Aff.

Shortly after, five to six gunshots were heard, and Aff, without hesitation, ran outside. Lying on the street, she saw her neighbor, whose name has been withheld pending police confirmation. She began checking the victim for wounds and found two, one in his side and one in his chest. She immediately began putting pressure on the chest wound, while her family followed her lead and began helping.

"My fiance grabbed a blanket or towel to put on the side wound, and my mom was just talking to him, giving him something to focus on, keep him calm" says Aff.

Neither Aff nor her fiance and mother have any medical training, but they did what they could to help their neighbor before the ambulance arrived.

"We kept him propped on his side, that's all we could do," says Aff. "Keep him talking, keep him calm."

The victim later died from his wounds, Aff and others are left wondering what led up to the shooting. A woman who had been with the victim, whom Aff identified as the victim's girlfriend said she thought they'd been followed back from a bar. The two had been out celebrating the fact that they were expecting a baby.

"I don't know why anyone would do this to him, he was a great guy," says Aff.

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Neighbors step in after fatal South Hill shooting