1 cousin is dead, another jailed after Pasco police manhunt. Both were wanted for murder
A 25-year-old murder suspect with the nickname “Scars” was killed by Pasco police Sunday, hours after he allegedly returned to the original crime scene for another shooting.
Juan M. Montalvo has been identified as the man shot dead at a North 12th Avenue home, near Nixon Street.
His younger cousin, Miguel A. “Terco” Montalvo, was wounded in the afternoon shooting and briefly hospitalized.
The 21-year-old then was booked into the Franklin County jail on a $1 million warrant for second-degree murder and two counts of first-degree assault for the April 29 crime.
Juan Montalvo faced the same charges.
Police have not yet named the officer or officers involved in Sunday afternoon’s shooting, or given details about what led up to it.
No officers were hurt in the incident.
The Special Investigations Unit plans a news conference Monday afternoon to release preliminary information. Kennewick police Commander Randy Maynard is heading up the team on this officer-involved shooting investigation.
An autopsy on Juan Montalvo is planned Wednesday, said Franklin County Coroner Curtis McGary.
It will be done at the Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office because the forensic pathologist that Franklin County typically works with is not traveling to Eastern Washington right now during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Montalvo cousins had been wanted for 2 1/2 weeks for shooting three people in the backyard of an East Lewis Street house. One man, Luis “Oso” Contreras, was killed and two others were hurt.
A third suspect in that murder, Antonio Larios, 18, has been in custody since May 8.
Pasco police released Larios’ moniker as “Pistol Pete,” but have since said he was misidentified in their original Facebook posting.
Court documents unsealed a week ago didn’t reveal the motive behind the evening shooting, or what Contreras was doing in the yard.
Contreras, 29, ended up shot several times by two different guns, based on .45-caliber and 9mm bullets recovered during his autopsy.
A survivor told Pasco police he’s known one of the alleged shooters for some time, and the two even belong to the same gang.
Then, just before 8 a.m. Sunday, the Montalvos apparently returned to the same 1901 E. Lewis St. house in a stolen car. The house is a few blocks east of the Lewis Street underpass.
A 17-year-old boy was shot in the leg through a window of the house, according to initial police broadcasts.
A second person was also wounded and a man was reportedly put in the trunk of the getaway car but released a short time later, according to the broadcasts.
The suspects, initially described as two men in their 20s, fled in 2019 black Nissan Versa, said a Pasco police Facebook post. It was stolen earlier from South Douglas Street.
After searching for several hours, police Sunday afternoon surrounded the 12th Avenue home just east of Edgar Brown Memorial Stadium.
In addition to Larios and Miguel Montalvo, two alleged accomplices in the crime spree also are locked up.
Eusiah A. Stell, 18, is charged with first-degree rendering criminal assistance.
Prosecutors say he lied to an officer about the direction the getaway car went after the April 29 deadly shooting.
Ernesto Porfirio Gomez, 30, was arrested Sunday on suspicion of 16 counts of second-degree rendering criminal assistance.
His alleged role is not known, but Gomez lives at the house where police shot the Montalvo cousins.
This story was originally published May 18, 2020 at 12:34 PM.