Bail set at $250,000 in Pasco drive-by

A man shot in the thigh last week outside a Pasco motel was trying to find out why a suspicious car kept circling the block, court documents show.

When Joey J. Lopez asked what was going on, the driver “responded with verbal aggression,” pulled out a handgun and fired once, documents said.

The accused driver, Anthony L. Martinez Mata, pleaded innocent Tuesday in Franklin County Superior Court.

He faces trial Dec. 13 on charges of drive-by shooting, first-degree assault and second-degree unlawful gun possession.

Martinez Mata, 21, also has a pending Franklin County case for felony violation of a no-contact order, with a Dec. 20 trial date.

He is locked up on $250,000 bail in the new case.

Emergency dispatchers notified Pasco police at 8:18 p.m. Oct. 11 about a “frantic female caller” who said her friend had been shot in the leg and asked the first responders to hurry to the Sage & Sun Motel.

The woman added that the suspect was driving a yellow Mitsubishi Lancer and identified the driver as Martinez Mata. She later reported that she briefly dated Martinez Mata in 2013, and that his window was down as her car passed in the motel parking lot.

Lopez was taken to Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland for the wound to the lower, inside left thigh.

Surveillance video at the 1232 S. 10th Ave. motel, at the base of the cable bridge, captured a yellow Mitsubishi arrive and then hastily leave, court documents said. Officers discovered that Martinez Mata is connected with a similar car.

A spent 9mm shell casing was found on the west side of the motel where Lopez was shot, documents said.

In an interview at the hospital, Lopez told detectives he did not know the alleged shooter but had approached the car that evening as it was slowly driving south on 11th Avenue. He said he told Martinez Mata that he was not looking for a confrontation, but was concerned why the car had gone around the motel several times, court documents said.

Lopez added that the driver was holding the gun outside the car when he fired, documents said.

Martinez Mata, a convicted felon, is not supposed to own or be in control of firearms.

He was arrested Friday at his South Fruitland Street home in Kennewick by the Tri-City Regional SWAT Team.

In his pending case, Martinez Mata allegedly called his former girlfriend several times in late May. The woman reported that her ex also changed the password to one of her social media accounts, and posted a picture of himself, court documents said.

Martinez Mata admitted to calling her and said he thought the order expired, documents said. The order he signed on Oct. 15, 2015 was for two years.

This story was originally published October 17, 2017 at 7:07 PM with the headline "Bail set at $250,000 in Pasco drive-by."