He told of a deadly attack and his escape from an accused double murderer

Eleven months after an early morning attack on a Pasco street, a 35-year-old man faced Hector Orozco Jr.

Shegow Gagow told jurors Friday that the man seated in front of him in court attacked him and stabbed to death an acquaintance, Demetrius A. Graves.

Orozco, 43, is on trial in Franklin County Superior Court for the deaths of Graves and Bonnie D. Ross in unrelated killings several hours apart.

However, Ross’ death was not discovered until more than 48 hours later when concerned friends told her family that the 82-year-old and her car had not been seen around her Pasco house.

Ross was then linked to Orozco’s Valentine’s Day crime spree, especially since the suspect was driving her Toyota Corolla shortly before his arrest at a motel.

Orozco is charged with seven crimes, including first- and second-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder.

The defense has suggested that police immediately focused on Orozco because of the crowd he hangs out with and his criminal background and turned “a blind eye” to other possible suspects.

But Gagow was clear Friday — Orozco is the person who hit him from behind, turned his violence on Graves and then again tried to attack Gagow.

Gagow speaks English with a heavy accent, but prosecutors had him use certified Somali interpreter Liban Mahamed so jurors could understand everything he said.

He came to the United States in 2003 with family and does seasonal agricultural work such as picking apples.

Gagow did not recognize the 39-year-old Graves by his given name, but recalled his nickname was “More Money.”

He said they met up at a gas station near downtown Pasco early Feb. 14, then went to a motel where Orozco kicked them out of his room. He didn’t know Orozco’s name, instead describing him as “the Mexican” with brown skin.

Throughout his testimony, Gagow used the nicknames when talking about Graves and Orozco.

Gagow said Orozco left the motel with them to go to a convenience store, and then to a shed, or tent-like structure that belonged to Graves and was used for some in the group to smoke methamphetamine.

The group then was walking down the alley between Bonneville and Clark streets, crossing Sixth Avenue, when Gagow said he realized Orozco started chasing them.

Gagow testified that he fell after being hit from behind. He was on the ground for maybe a minute, then got up and realized Orozco also hit Graves from behind and was attacking him.

Graves, who was on the ground at this point, repeated, “’What I did? What I did?’ And this guy was continuing with punching and with a knife,” said Gagow. “I tried to save (Graves) but (Orozco) was not listening to me.”

He said he tried using a skinny stick on Orozco but it did not work.

Orozco stopped attacking Graves and turned toward him, so Gagow said he started to running but tripped and Orozco fell on top of him.

Orozco, who had dropped the knife, beat Gagow until he got away.

Gagow told jurors that he ran screaming down the street until he came upon a Pasco patrol car, but the officer thought he was high at the time and didn’t understand him.

So Gagow went in search of someone else, and got a phone to call 911 for help. In the process, he saw Graves dead on the ground.

The trial is scheduled to continue Tuesday at the Franklin County Courthouse in Pasco.

This story was originally published January 18, 2019 at 7:02 PM.