Gang members planned deadly shooting at Pasco home, returned weeks later for witnesses, say police

Three gang members meticulously planned a late April shooting at a Pasco home down to the location of surveillance cameras and what direction they point, say detectives.

Once done, one person was dead, two were wounded and at least two escaped injury.

Police caught one of the alleged killers and an accomplice, but cousins Juan M. Montalvo and Miguel A. Montalvo weren’t captured for more than 2 1/2 weeks.

Then, Sunday morning, the two wanted men returned to the original scene in an apparent attempt to kill the witnesses, according to court documents.

The Montalvos again opened fire on several people at the house, hitting two and leaving a mother, father and young child running for their lives, documents said.

Police followed a lead six hours later that the Montalvos may have gone into hiding again at another Pasco house, and called for extra officers and SWAT members.

The cousins were considered armed and dangerous, and police wanted to “manage the problem and deal with people inside in the safest way possible,” said Kennewick police Commander Randy Maynard.

“As they were establishing containment, two subjects ran out a door located on the east side of the house and ran towards the alley,” Maynard said at a news conference. “Both ... were armed with what were later determined to be handguns and, unprovoked, began firing in the direction of officers that were located in the alley as part of the containment effort.”

Detective Joshua Glass and Officer Eric Fox “returned deadly force response to the shots that were being fired in their direction.”

The suspects were both shot.

3 shootings, 4 locked up

Juan “Scars” Montalvo, 25, immediately died from his injuries. Miguel “Terco” Montalvo, 21, required surgery at a Tri-Cities hospital before being booked into the Franklin County jail.

He has yet to appear in court because of his medical condition, say jail officials.

None of the officers were hit.

Now, investigators from multiple law enforcement agencies are trying to piece together exactly what happened at 807 N. 12th Ave. shortly before 3 p.m. Sunday so prosecutors can determine if the actions of Glass and Fox were justified.

At the same time, Pasco police administrators are handling their own review to make sure the officers followed department policy.

And their detectives continue to work the case, linking three separate shootings that have four men locked up on criminal charges.

A motive for the first confrontation has not been disclosed.

Miguel Montalvo and Antonio Larios are charged with second-degree murder and two counts of first-degree assault for the April 29 shooting at 1901 E. Lewis St. Both have bail set at $1 million.

Pasco police released Larios’ moniker as “Pistol Pete,” but have since said he was misidentified in their original Facebook posting.

The murder is for Luis “Oso” Contreras and the assaults for Robert Montano and Sergio Torres.

Eusiah A. Stell, 18, is charged with first-degree rendering criminal assistance for lying about the getaway car after the murder. Bail is $50,000.

Ernesto Porfirio Gomez, 30, was charged Monday with two counts of first-degree rendering criminal assistance and ordered held on $250,000 bail.

It was his 12th Avenue home where the Montalvos were found Sunday afternoon, though Gomez claims the cousins were never inside and that he had been sleeping until police used loudspeakers to order all occupants to come outside.

Juan Montalvo is charged with the same violent crimes as Miguel Montalvo. His case is expected to be dismissed following his death.

An autopsy is planned Wednesday.

2 officers on paid leave

Maynard, who is leading the Special Investigations Unit team for this incident, said Pasco Police Chief Ken Roske has placed Glass and Fox on paid administrative leave.

That is standard protocol following officer-involved shootings.

Glass is assigned to the Street Crimes Unit and has been with the agency for four years.

Fox, a 12-year department veteran, works in the traffic unit.

The two officers were wearing functional body cameras in the afternoon shooting, though police don’t yet know what was captured.

Additionally, a crime scene team collecting evidence Sunday night reportedly found two guns in the alley where the suspects ran.

Maynard would not disclose details of the found guns, but said he has between 20 and 25 investigators from six different agencies working on the incident.

Paper showed detail layout

It all started the evening of April 29 when Montano, 26, and Torres, 27, were fixing a fence on Montano’s property that had been damaged in a recent windstorm.

Emergency dispatch started receiving calls at 5:57 p.m about 10 or more gunshots coming from the East Lewis Street home.

Officers arrived to find Contreras, 29, dead in the backyard and Montano bleeding profusely from his left side. Torres had taken off running and was found shot in the upper back outside an apartment complex a few blocks away.

Witnesses identified Larios, 18, and Juan Montalvo as the alleged shooters. Two guns were found by officers, tossed in an alley not far from the scene.

A Toyota Celica believed used in the shooting was tracked down to a downtown Pasco street, where a police sergeant noted it was still “warm to the touch” from being driven recently.

The car was sealed with evidence tape and taken to the police department for a later search.

Once inside the Toyota, detectives found a piece of paper in the ashtray, folded around a Rosary. The paper showed a detailed layout of the area immediately surrounding Montano’s home, including specifics about security cameras, court documents said.

“This indicates that some amount of planning and countersurveillance may have been done prior to the shooting,” documents said.

Prison release same day

As part of that initial investigation, Street Crimes Unit detectives learned Miguel Montalvo had been released from prison that same day after serving a sentence for an assault inside the county jail.

He was picked up by a man with the nickname “Gizmo.” Detectives know that is Gomez, another member of the Mexican Pride Surenos gang, according to court documents.

Gomez later acknowledged seeing Miguel Montalvo the day he got out of prison, but claimed only Miguel came into his house that day while Juan Montalvo stayed outside in the car.

Details of the April shooting, including witness statements and pictures of the wanted suspects, were publicized by Tri-City media and posted across several social media platforms.

Then, at 7:50 a.m. last Sunday, the Montalvos went back to the Lewis Street house, kicked in the front door and went to the bedroom normally occupied by Montano, documents said.

However, Montano had moved into another area of the house after the earlier shooting. Two adults in his bedroom were questioned at gunpoint but refused to say where Montano was.

Man carjacked for getaway

The mask-wearing Montalvos then allegedly searched the home, encountering one person who had come up from the basement after hearing a commotion.

When they didn’t answer, Juan Montalvo shot that person in the left hand and right shoulder, possibly with one bullet, court documents said.

The intruders went downstairs looking for Montano, who ran to a neighbor’s house and asked them to call police.

A teen boy also took off from the basement and climbed over a fence, but couldn’t get away before he was shot in the leg. One of the suspects allegedly fired out a window at the teen, hitting him between two and five times, documents said.

The suspects then allegedly chased and fired at a woman and a young child who were trying to get out of the basement.

The Montalvos left toward South Hugo Avenue, where detectives say they carjacked a man, put him in the trunk of his 2019 Nissan Versa and drove off.

The man was able to escape his kidnappers by using the emergency trunk release, court documents said. His car was later found ditched on North 19th Avenue in Pasco.

This story was originally published May 19, 2020 at 12:56 PM.