Grandview gun battle nets Pasco man six years in prison

YAKIMA — A Pasco man was ordered Friday to serve six years in prison for his part in a gang-related gun battle in Grandview in which he was shot.

Juan Zepeda, who was convicted in 1997 of the stabbing death of a teenager in Grandview, was given a midrange sentence by Yakima County Superior Court Judge James Gavin.

Zepeda was convicted by a jury in September of second-degree assault, intimidating a witness and unlawful possession of a firearm.

Authorities said Zepeda was one of three known suspects who took part in a May 27 exchange of gunfire between gang rivals in a residential neighborhood near the corner of Crescent Avenue and West Fifth Street in Grandview. As many as 25 shots were fired, police said.

Zepeda, who testified at the trial, maintained his innocence throughout the case and said at Friday’s hearing that he hoped the evidence would have swayed the jury in his favor.

Deputy prosecutor Gary Hintze read a letter from the intimidation victim.

The man lived near the scene and was taking pictures of the car Zepeda was riding in as he left the area following the shooting, investigators said.

“He pointed a gun at me and he threatened to kill me because I chose not to be a silent victim that day and since,” the man wrote.

The defense argued that Zepeda was not armed and that the witness confused Zepeda’s cell phone for a gun.

“I didn’t point a gun at him. I’m the one that got shot,” Zepeda told Gavin.

Zepeda was shot in the leg during the gunfire.

Relatives who spoke in his support Friday said he was a good person who was trying to improve his life and help raise his 2-year-old daughter. Zepeda and his relatives said he had distanced himself from the gang life and was only caught up in the shooting by accident. He was dealing with a funeral for a relative of his child’s mother, who has family members involved with gangs, they said.

Zepeda has been inaccurately cast as a “cold-hearted killer” for his role in the stabbing death of Shaun Owsley, said his sister, Sandra Zepeda.

Owsley, 18, was stabbed to death in a January 1997 brawl at a party in Grandview. Zepeda was convicted of second-degree murder. He was 15 years old at the time.

Defense attorney William Schuler of Naches said Zepeda had often shown remorse for that incident during conversations. He said Zepeda describes that encounter as an attempt to defend a friend against a bully.

Hintze had asked for the maximum sentence — which would have added another five months to the sentence.

“The community is sick to death of what’s been happening in recent times,” Hintze said, referring to an increase in gang violence.

As part of the sentence, Zepeda must avoid associating with known criminals and must not get any more gang-related tattoos during three years of probation after his prison time.

Two other defendants were charged in connection with the incident.

Santiago Barrera Brito, 17, awaits trial on charges of first-degree assault and second-degree illegal firearm possession. Police say he fired toward Zepeda, who suffered a leg wound in the shooting.

An arrest warrant is outstanding for Victor Flores Garcia, 21, on charges of first-degree assault and unlawful firearm possession

http://www.tdn.com/articles/2009/10/12/breaking_news/doc4ad3b29f2b6c3603619029.txt

Sunnyside woman shot in head at least four times

A Sunnyside woman found dead Monday at the end of a rural road outside the city was shot in the head at least four times, according to an autopsy.

Yakima County sheriff's detectives said Monday afternoon that they were still trying to retrace victim Jessica Barajas' last steps to help determine the circumstances of the shooting.

Orchard workers discovered the body of Barajas, 26, about 5:30 a.m. as they arrived at work at the end of Scoon Road, several miles west of Sunnyside, authorities said.

No houses are near the scene. The body was found next to the road, adjacent to an orchard.

Investigators initially reported that Barajas had also been shot in the torso, but the autopsy found only the head wounds, Coroner Jack Hawkins said. Other evidence at the scene may have wrongly suggested the additional wounds, Hawkins said.

The weapon has not been recovered, and detectives are still trying to determine the circumstances of the shooting, said Stew Graham, the sheriff's chief of detectives. She apparently was shot at the scene, Graham said.

Graham said Barajas had family ties in the Lower Valley and apparently lived a somewhat transient lifestyle. Detectives heard she had recently been staying at the Town House Motel in Sunnyside, Graham said.

Along with a gang-related shooting death over the weekend in Yakima, the woman's killing brings Yakima County's homicide total to 18 for the year, matching the final 2008 count.

Anyone with information about the Barajas case is asked to call the sheriff's office at 509-574-2500.

http://twitter.com/nwgangs

Yakima police look at ties between two gang slayings

Yakima police look at ties between two gang slayings

By MARK MOREY
Yakima Herald-Republic

YAKIMA, Wash. -- Investigators say they are considering whether Yakima's two most recent gang-related homicides are related.

The victim in Saturday's incident was 20-year-old Nicholas J. Jimenez of Yakima, police said Monday.

He was shot once in the torso and died on arrival at Yakima Regional Medical and Cardiac Center, authorities said.

The shooting happened about 1:20 a.m. in an alley behind a home in the 700 block of North Fourth Avenue.

Yakima police Sgt. Scot Levno said friends of homicide victim Yorbane Ortiz, who was fatally shot Sept. 29 in Yakima, were attending a party at the Fourth Avenue house.

Ortiz's funeral was held recently.

The 17-year-old was killed while walking in the area of North Fifth Avenue and Willow Street. Police say someone in a passing car shot him.

The circumstances of the Jimenez shooting remain under investigation.

Levno said he was apparently shot at relatively close range by someone with a pistol, but detectives have few details beyond that.

"There was nobody there at this party who claimed to see or know anything," Levno said, describing the lack of cooperation as a growing trend in gang-related crime over the past few years.

Also injured in the Saturday shooting was a 16-year-old boy from Utah.

Levno said the boy was a Yakima native who had returned for Ortiz's funeral.

He was treated for gunshot wounds to the legs and released from a Yakima hospital soon after the incident, Levno said.

Including this morning's discovery of a woman shot numerous times outside of Sunnyside, 18 homicides have been reported across Yakima County this year.

That matches the total count for 2008.

http://www.yakima-herald.com/stories/2009/10/12/yakima-police-look-at-ties-between-two-gang-slayings

Yakima- another teenage shot

By Stacy Lilienthal
YAKIMA -- Another teen is hit in a drive-by shooting in Yakima Tuesday evening.

It happened just after 5:00 at the 2000 block of Willow Street. Police say someone is a vehicle shot several rounds at a house. A 17-year-old known gang member was hit once in the leg.

"I was inside my home at the time and heard the gunshot and jumped up and ran around to the front to see what was going on," Neighbor, Ronald Stevens.

"We responded a little bit after 5 for reports of a drive by shooting and simultaneously we sent officers to regional hospital where a gunshot victim had just shown up at the hospital," Sergeant, Tim Bardwell said.

Police have no suspects. A witness claims to have seen a dark colored Lexus speeding off westbound on Willow Street.

http://www.kimatv.com/news/64192932.html

Yakima- Sureno killed in drive-by

Associated Press - September 30, 2009 10:55 AM ET

YAKIMA, Wash. (AP) - Police say the 17-year-old killed Tuesday night in Yakima was a known gang member, and the drive-by shooting is being investigated as gang-related. [The victim was a Sureno known by the moniker "Slow 1."]

A witness told police a car pulled up along side the Yakima teen, Yobane Ortiz, and shots were fired.

Responding officers found him on a street corner with one bullet wound to the head and several to the torso. He was pronounced dead at Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital.

Sgt. Mike Costello told The Yakima Herald-Republic the victim was not armed. He had school work with him.

The shooting was the 15th homicide this year in Yakima County and the first since July 19.

Information from: Yakima Herald-Republic, http://www.yakima-herald.com

Toppenish group says get tough on gangs

TOPPENISH, Wash. -- A group wanting to rid the city of gang violence called for drastic changes in laws dealing with such crime when it met with state lawmakers during a Tuesday night forum.

A crowd of more than 50 filed into the Toppenish High School performing arts hall, voicing concern about
gangs in this rural town of 9,140 people, where drive-by shootings occur at least twice a month.

City Council members, school officials, police and officials with the state Department of Social and Health Services also attended.

Having state lawmakers along with officials from various agencies attend shows the group, Community Safety Network, is gaining traction, said group leader Simon Sampson.

"It's coming together," he said. "We just need to keep getting people involved."

Gang violence last Sunday left a 20-year-old man injured in a drive-by shooting in the 500 block of East First Avenue. And last month, gang members fired a dozen shots into an upstairs apartment on F Street, striking a pregnant woman twice in the torso. Her injuries were not life-threatening and her unborn child was not struck.

In March, a drive-by shooting near where the railroad tracks intersect with Buena Way left two young men dead.

Police have documented more than 250 gang members in the city on the Yakama reservation, but many of them are from other areas.

Group members handed state Sen. Jim Honeyford, R-Sunnyside, and state Rep. Bruce Chandler, R-Granger, a list of proposed laws clamping down on gang violence.

Sunnyside- drive by nets four arrests

Sunnyside police arrested three juveniles and one adult in connection with a drive-by shooting on Sunday.

Police received a report of shots fired in the 500 block of Cemetery Road at 4:49 p.m. A short time later another report of shots fired came in at 6:39 p.m.

Sunnyside Detective Jeff Cunningham said while police were investigating the second shooting, the four suspects came walking by.

Police arrested 18-year-old Ariel Cruz, two male juveniles and one female juvenile. All are from Outlook.

Cunningham said police are requesting charges of seven counts of assault in the first degree and drive-by shooting. Both Cruz and a 17-year-old male are also being charged with possession of a firearm.

http://www.dailysunnews.com/ARCHIVES/Story.aspx/16695/drive-by-shooting-nets-four-arrests