Tri-Cities man was gunned down before his son’s birth. His killers are still out there

Hunter Black dreamed of being the type of father he never had as a child.

Black, 18, was the product of a broken home, so when he learned his girlfriend, Cynarra Scott, was pregnant, he did as much as he could to become a great dad.

He watched YouTube videos, bought baby clothes and made sure Scott had everything she needed to help her during the pregnancy.

“He was super, super excited about it,” she said. “He would not stop talking about it. He would not stop buying me food. He was like, ‘You need to eat. You need to eat now.’”

All that came to a violent and tragic end when Black was ambushed inside his Kennewick residence by two masked attackers in the early morning hours of October 26 of last year. He was killed by a single shotgun blast to the chest.

Seven months after his murder and two weeks after his son’s birth, Scott and Black’s half-sister, Dalyn Larsen, are asking for the public’s help to find his killers.

“Somebody knows who gave them the gun. Someone knows who drove the car away, and we just want to beg them to give us information,” Larsen said.

Black was talented, friendly

Black could do anything he set his mind to, Larsen and Scott said. He was a Colorado state wrestling champion, had a beautiful singing voice and had a knack for making friends. He taught himself to back flip, and he loved singing so much he often got in trouble when he was attending Richland High School because he sang when he wasn’t supposed to be singing.

“I was getting phone calls pretty regularly. ‘He needs to stop singing in the hallways. He needs to stop singing in class,’” Larsen said. “He was in always in choir. I remember he broke his legs and he was still on stage in his cast and his wheelchair.”

But underneath his talent and charm was a man who grew up without a father and had a mother that struggled with drug addiction. That led to him getting in trouble while he was living in Colorado, Larsen said.

He was on probation when he came to the Tri-Cities in 2017 with the plan to turn his life around. While he was staying with Larsen, he did well. He was part of an occupational program, and he was trying to figure things out.

As he started approaching age 18, he started to become more independent and fell in with a bad crowd.

“He had a lot of good goals, but the allure of fast money is what really pulled him in. He got addicted to the fast money,” Larsen said.

Even in his criminal activity, Larsen and Scott said he still stayed away from violence, and wasn’t a gang member. His catchphrase was, “Love and Hope” not “Love and Hate,” they said.

Wanted to turn his life around

When he learned he was going to be a father, Black planned to get away from the criminal activity that he used for income. He had already gotten his general education diploma, and wanted to get a job in construction.

But it wasn’t soon enough to stop the two masked men in dark clothing who broke into their home on 401 S. Yelm St. just before 2:30 a.m. that October morning. Scott and Black woke up to the lights on and a man with a shotgun pointed at them. They demanded money from him, and Black demanded that they get out of his house.

When Black jumped up, planning to hit him, he fell, and that’s when the gunman fired.

“I was freaking out. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t stop screaming,” Scott said.

When officers arrived, Black was still clinging to life, and emergency crews tried to save him, but he died a short time later.

Police have been searching for his killers, but there hasn’t been anything new announced about the case since the early days. Neither Scott nor Larsen fault them, saying investigators have been working.

They’ve told family they’ve followed several leads and people have submitted tips, but none of them lead to the shooter.

Since Black’s death, Scott has struggled to sleep.

“It’s been really hard.” she said. “I’ll stay awake throughout the night listening to the noises outside. I am really afraid it will happen again.”

Larsen simply keeps replaying the phone call she got from Scott telling her about her brother’s death. The memory will surface at random times, like when she’s driving.

“I had just recently lost my Nana, and one of the stark differences is that you expect an elderly person to die, but you don’t expect someone so young to die, and in such a violent way,” she said.

Asking for help

Larsen is beyond frustrated knowing the people responsible for Hunter’s death are still free, adding that someone knows something that could lead to finding the killers.

“It’s so easy to pull the trigger on somebody who has done nothing to them,” Scott said. “I didn’t have a father either, and I was super excited to see what that was like.”

Following his death, dozens of people came out to mourn Black. They created a roadside memorial and held vigils both in Richland and in Colorado.

Life has been paused for Scott since Black’s death, she said.

“Something as traumatic as this, it doesn’t just go away,” Larsen said. “He didn’t need to lose his life.”

Police ask anyone with information about the killing to call the non-emergency dispatch number at 509-628-0333. People can also submit a tip through Tri-Cities Crime Stoppers by calling 509-586-8477 or 800-222-8477 or going online at www.tricitiescrimestoppers.org.

People can earn up to $1,000 for information leading to an arrest on a felony charge. Tipsters can remain anonymous.

This story was originally published May 28, 2019 at 4:55 PM.