Woman shot in home

A woman on River Drive who suffered a gunshot wound to her right forearm last Saturday night told officers that her guitar had exploded.

Coulee Dam Police Chief Pat Collins said Tuesday that there was a bullet hole in the woman’s guitar and that police pulled a bullet from a wall. A 45-caliber handgun was recovered near the room where the incident occurred.

When Officer Joshua Dies arrived at 11 p.m. at 1017 River Drive, he found the woman, Nicole Stice, standing in her driveway yelling, “Somebody help me,” according to the police report. Stice was crying and bleeding heavily from a wound on her right forearm just below her elbow. There was a large amount of blood in the driveway and leading into the house.

Stice told officers that she had been playing her guitar when it just blew up.

But Dies smelled burnt gun powder in the house and found a gun in a hallway close to where Stice said she was playing the guitar. It was seized as evidence.

Collins said the musical instrument had a bullet hole in it and the wound to Stice’s arm was consistent with a bullet wound.

Stice was taken to Coulee Medical Center for treatment.

Two small children present in the residence were placed in care of Child Protective Services.

Collins said police had no serious suspects, yet, but they are considering a range of possibilities.

Grand Coulee Police Officer Adam Hunt was called for backup at 11:27 p.m.

Hunt stayed as backup for a short time and was later contacted by Dies who wanted some equipment to help in a search of a crawl space in an outbuilding on the property.

Collins said his department is continuing the investigation.