Court roundup: 3 men plead innocent in Kennewick shooting

Posted: 12:00am on Oct 15, 2011; Modified: 1:29am on Oct 15, 2011

Three Pasco men face trial Dec. 5 for allegedly firing at a car full of people last weekend in Kennewick.

Martin Perez Garcia, 20, Juan Daniel Salas, 23, and Gorge Luis Acevedo, 21, all pleaded innocent Thursday in Benton County Superior Court.

Prosecutors allege they were following an Acura Integra on Kennewick Avenue at 1:45 a.m. Oct. 8 when Salas fired multiple shots at the car from a .22-caliber revolver wrapped in a bandanna. The gun was later dismantled and tossed into a Dumpster.

Perez Garcia is charged with drive-by shooting. He is in custody in the Benton County jail on $50,000 bail.

Salas, being held on $75,000 bail, has charges of drive-by shooting and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. He was convicted of second-degree robbery from 2008 and second-degree burglary from 2007.

Acevedo faces two charges for first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm and second-degree rendering criminal assistance. Behind bars on $50,000 bail, he has prior convictions from 2005 for residential burglary, first-degree burglary and second-degree burglary.

A 15-year-old boy was also arrested a couple of hours after the shooting.

According to court documents, the three men picked up the teen earlier in the night. Perez Garcia later "began driving in a crazy manner and came up behind the Acura," documents said.

Salas was allegedly in the back seat behind the driver when he shot at the Acura.

The victims -- Giovanni Hernandez-Pina, Sonny Miller, Marc Mitchell and Lance Rash -- told police they were westbound on Kennewick at Yelm Street when gunfire came from an older white Volvo, which had a bullet hole on the driver's side. They reported hearing more than one shot, and at least one bullet hit the Acura's trunk leaving a hole.

The victims said they saw at least three people in the suspect vehicle and knew that the shooter was in the rear driver's side seat. The shooter was described as wearing a gray sweatshirt and the gun was believed to be a revolver, court documents said.

At 4 a.m., Officer Michelle Pitts saw a Volvo that matched the victims' description down to the bullet hole. Pitts, along with other Kennewick officers, stopped the car and found Perez Garcia was the Volvo's registered owner and driver.

Acevedo, a passenger in the Volvo, denied involvement in the drive-by shooting but later told police "that he was told the gun used in the drive-by was dismantled, wrapped in a Winco bag and disposed of in a Dumpster at Chase Bank," documents said. The bank is near where the shooting occurred.

Officers reportedly did find a revolver taken apart and in a grocery store bag in the trash can.

Prosecutors have charged Acevedo with trying to hinder the prosecution of Perez Garcia and Salas by disposing of the evidence.

The teen allegedly told police that Salas had fired the shots after wrapping the gun in a bandanna. He also claimed that Perez Garcia later stopped the car somewhere in Kennewick and told the teen to stay in the car while the three men got out for a short time.

A search of the Volvo turned up a box of .22-caliber ammunition in the trunk, documents said.

2 accused of stealing, reselling store's movies

Two men are accused of stealing numerous DVD and Blu-Ray movies from the Safeway store in Richland, then turning around and selling them for $87 at Hastings.

Oleg I. Negru, 21, and Pavel Yuryevich Doroshchuk, 22, pleaded innocent each to one count of first-degree trafficking in stolen property. Their trials are set for Dec. 5.

Court documents show that the men went to the George Washington Way grocery store on Oct. 4 and Negru acted as a lookout while Doroshchuk took the movies. Safeway surveillance video shows Negru waving to his accomplice when the area was clear for him to leave the store, documents said.

A Richland officer got a description of the suspects after watching the video, then went to the nearby Hastings store, which buys used DVDs. The officer was pulling into the parking lot when he saw two men who matched the suspects walking out of Hastings, court documents said.

Negru and Doroshchuk were contacted by the officer and allegedly admitted to the scheme.

Negru is in jail on $15,000 bail, while Doroshchuk of Kennewick had bail set at $4,000.

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