Gang shooting leaves two dead in Toppenish
Yakima Herald-Republic
TOPPENISH, Wash. -- Yet another shooting has claimed the lives of two young victims as police scramble to put a lid on a growing gang problem in Yakima County.
Thursday night's shooting deaths of 17-year-old Estevan Silva Jr. and 20-year-old Israel Diac push to eight the number of homicides in the Yakima County so far this year. About half the deaths are gang-related.
Law enforcement agencies throughout the Valley were working together Friday to see if the shooting is connected to other recent gang shootings, including one earlier Thursday in Yakima, said Toppenish Police Capt. Curt Ruggles.
Silva and Diac were with two others near the intersection of Washington Avenue and Buena Way about 10:20 p.m. Thursday when they were gunned down by a rival gang member, police said.
A dark car with two people inside pulled up, gang affiliations were announced, and a passenger of the car opened fire, striking the two, police said.
The vehicle then fled west on nearby Track Road at a high rate of speed, police said.
Diac, who was shot in the torso, died at the scene. Silva was rushed to Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital with a gunshot wound to the head. He died about 4:15 a.m. Friday, Yakima County Coroner Maury Rice said.
Monday autopsies will be conducted for both victims, he said.
Roughly five hours before the two were shot, a 28-year-old Yakima man was struck in the leg by a bullet when rival gang members shot at his Ford Expedition outside a convenience store at 16th Avenue and Tieton Drive in Yakima.
Now, Valley police are trying find out whether there's a connection.
"We're trying to help each other out," Ruggles said Friday.
Police are reviewing surveillance tapes from cameras at nearby buildings in hopes of identifying the suspects in the Toppenish shooting, Ruggles said.
The deaths come 11 days after a gang shooting left an innocent 16-year-old hospitalized in serious condition at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle
Jose Salinas was shot in the face on Feb. 22 after peering out a bedroom window after hearing shots fired outside his home at the corner of Horschel and Hoffer roads west of Wapato.
The bullet broke his jaw and traveled down his spine and lodged near his kidneys, family said. He's now breathing with help from a ventilator.
Of the 18 homicides reported in Yakima County last year, police say half the deaths were teenagers.
Gangs are becoming more organized in the Valley, authorities have said, and police have formed a multiagency task force to tackle the problem.
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