$1 million bail set for Tri-Cities man accused of attempted murder

A judge Friday ordered a 25-year-old man held on $1 million bail for allegedly trying to kill a man during a drug deal.

The victim was left with a serious brain injury and only recently recognized a picture of the attacker he says shot him.

Joshua A. Welch met up with the victim in a Pasco alley in early December to buy “dope,” according to court documents.

At some point during the exchange, Welch shot Anthony Rosales several times in the head and shoulder, said police.

Rosales, 28, ended up in a Spokane rehabilitation facility for a traumatic brain injury, and slowly has been regaining his memory.

He recently was on Facebook when he came across Welch’s personal page and reportedly recognized the face of his shooter.

Welch — whose street nickname is Savage — was arrested Thursday and booked into the Franklin County jail.

The Kennewick man is charged with attempted first-degree murder, first-degree assault, and one count each of first- and second-degree unlawful possession of a gun.

Court records show his criminal history includes burglary, heroin possession, possession of a stolen vehicle, rendering criminal assistance, attempted robbery and both unlawful possession and theft of guns.

Pasco police were called just after 6 p.m. Dec. 10 about a weapons complaint near 10th Avenue and Court Street.

Several officers responded to the area, but did not find anything. A short time later, staff at Lourdes Medical Center called 911 to report a patient in the emergency department with gunshot wounds.

Rosales had been driven to the Pasco hospital by two women in a Chevrolet Impala.

The driver told detectives that the three of them had gone to the alley just north of an apartment complex on West Ruby Street for a drug transaction.

Rosales, the alleged dealer, was on the phone when someone approached the car. He told the stranger to get in the back seat next to him, court documents said.

The driver said at that point she noticed another man approaching the car from a nearby apartment. She told police she was just asking the car’s occupants if anyone recognized the man when she heard gunshots.

The buyer in the back seat got out of the Chevrolet and ran as the driver sped off.

The driver told investigators that she could smell the odor of gunpowder inside her car and her ears were ringing, which indicated to police that the shots were fired inside the Chevrolet, documents said.

Detectives got a tip Wednesday that Rosales had identified Welch as the man who shot him, court documents said.

They met with Rosales, who has since returned home to Pasco, and asked how he knew Welch’s identity.

Rosales said he saw Welch’s face that evening in the back of the Chevrolet. He added that while recently using a relative’s cellphone to check out Facebook, he saw Welch’s page and remembered his face as the shooter, documents said.

Rosales also explained to detectives that “with time, he has been remembering more and more.”

He said he had been called that day by a man known as “Gumby” and told to “meet up with Savage to sell him dope,” documents said.

Gumby, identified as Santiago Ayala-Pineda, and Rosales previously met in prison and became friends after their release.

Ayala-Pineda, 33, was shot by a Pasco detective on July 30 when police were trying to arrest him during a traffic stop on Road 68 at Interstate 182.