On the evening of May 30, 2019, a dispute between neighbors in Spokane, Washington, escalated into a tragic murder-suicide that claimed the life of 29-year-old Benjamin Grosser, a Caucasian male. The incident began earlier in the day with a road rage confrontation between Grosser's employees and his 61-year-old neighbor, David Cholewinski. Cholewinski, who was reportedly intoxicated, followed the employees back to Grosser's property, where he brandished a handgun.
Law enforcement was
called to the scene, and a Spokane County sheriff's deputy interviewed both parties. Cholewinski made threatening and racist remarks about Grosser's employees. Despite the heated nature of the confrontation, the deputy issued Cholewinski a misdemeanor citation for unlawful display of a firearm and left the scene without making an arrest. This interaction seemed to further infuriate Cholewinski.
Less than two hours later, around 6:00 p.m., the situation took a fatal turn. Cholewinski walked over to Grosser's property and began shooting at him. Grosser was shot as his wife and two young children, a 3-year-old and a 7-month-old, were inside the house. In his final moments, Grosser urged his wife to get their children to safety. He was transported to a local hospital where he died from his injuries the following day.
After shooting Grosser, David Cholewinski returned to his own property. As deputies arrived back at the scene, they heard a single gunshot coming from Cholewinski's home. They later found Cholewinski deceased from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Consequently, there were no arrests made in connection to Benjamin Grosser's death as the sole suspect took his own life. In the aftermath, Grosser's widow filed a lawsuit against Spokane County, alleging that the sheriff's deputy's failure to arrest Cholewinski earlier in the day contributed to her husband's wrongful death. The lawsuit was eventually settled for $7.5 million.
