Maria Kapustin was 19 when she was shot dead just before 1:30 a.m. on July 7, 2024, at a scenic overlook on West Courtland Avenue in North Central Spokane. She was sitting on the hood of a friend’s car at the West View overlooking Emerson Park when a 2012 Ford Fusion drove past and occupants fired at least seven shots toward the group. One bullet struck Maria in the back; she was pronounced dead at the scene. The Spokane County Medical Examiner ruled the cause of death a gunshot wound to the torso and classified it a homicide.

Investigators say the shooting occurred against a backdrop of escalating violence between rival street gangs and may have been retaliation for an incident the month before outside NorthTown Mall. Maria had reportedly been targeted previously; friends said she recorded cell phone video of an altercation in which her car was kicked and damaged, and other attacks left headlights, the windshield, and tires vandalized.

Police linked the abandoned, bullet-riddled 2012 Ford Fusion to the shooting after finding seven shell casings inside and cell phone/navigation data placing 19-year-old Couger L. Devereaux Jr. at the scene. After a multiagency search, he was arrested March 18, 2025, in Greeley, Colorado, and faces charges of second-degree murder and drive-by shooting; he was awaiting extradition. Does anyone have information about Maria, the West View overlook that night, or the earlier incidents involving her car?