Shooting suspect transferred to jail
COEUR d'ALENE - The suspect in the gunbattle on Interstate 90 on June 22 has been released from Kootenai Health and booked into the Kootenai County jail.
The booking photo for Marcus A. Rael, 24, Glendale, Ariz., was released on Wednesday. He is being held on one count of felony eluding a peace officer. His bail is $1 million.
Rael declined a media request on Wednesday for a jailhouse interview. His attorney, Sean Walsh, could not be reached for comment.
"The Critical Incident Task Force detectives are continuing interviews as well as collecting and processing evidence," a Kootenai County Sheriff's Office press release stated Wednesday. "Further information will be released as it becomes available."
Rael's first appearance is slated in 14 to 21 days, KCSO Lt. Stu Miller said.
"That's the next step (in the judicial process)," he said.
Miller said Rael is segregated from the other inmates at the jail. He declined to comment on Rael's mental state, citing privacy laws.
Rael was injured during the shooting and no law enforcement personnel were shot. A dog in back of the truck Rael was driving was reportedly shot and had to be put down.
A Post Falls teen captured video of a portion of the gunfire. In his one-minute video, at least 40 shots were fired, but the early-morning standoff and gunbattle at the westbound Spokane Street on-ramp lasted more than half an hour.
The KCSO has not released details on how many total shots were fired, where and how many times Rael was shot, or other information about the exchange, citing the active investigation.
After a pursuit that began in Coeur d'Alene, Rael stopped his truck and began to exchange gunfire with 12 law enforcement personnel, including six Coeur d'Alene Police officers, three Post Falls Police officers, two KCSO deputies and one Idaho State Police trooper, according to the KCSO. All involved personnel have been placed on paid administrative leave. Their names have not yet been released.
The investigation shut down westbound I-90 from the Highway 41 interchange to the Pleasant View exit for about 14 hours on June 22, causing major traffic delays throughout Post Falls.
Rael's brother, Andrew J. Rael, 25, died in March following an eerily similar gunbattle with authorities on a Phoenix-area freeway. Andrew, who allegedly killed a tow-truck driver and a convenience-store employee before the exchange with police, was paroled from a Colorado prison in October after serving four years of a six-year sentence on charges that included punching a sheriff's deputy in the face.
Detectives are seeking assistance from the public in hopes of gathering information from the Post Falls shooting.
Detectives would like to speak with anyone who witnessed the incident or may have video, be it personal or from any residential or business surveillance systems.
The KCSO asks residents to contact the office if they were around the area of the shooting and to notify detectives of any unreported damage.
Anyone with further information on the case may call 446-2237.