2nd suspect arrested for deadly daylight shooting outside Richland hotel
The accused killer in last weekend’s shooting outside of a Richland hotel has been arrested.
Jonathan M. Rodriguez, 27, was taken into custody overnight Thursday.
Details of his arrest have not been released, but Benton County jail records show he was booked in at 8:27 a.m. Friday. His bail is $1 million.
Rodriguez — who’s also known as “Grumpy” — was wanted on a nationwide warrant for first-degree murder with a semi-automatic handgun and second-degree unlawful gun possession.
Charging papers state that the victim, Joshua R. Gibson, was killed during an actual or attempted kidnapping.
Rodriguez is the second suspect in the deadly encounter on Sept. 26 at the Riverfront Hotel, which used to be the Shilo Inn.
Michael G. Cook, 43, previously pleaded innocent to first-degree murder. He also is locked up on $1 million bail while awaiting a tentative trial on Dec. 7.
Gibson, 39, was found in the parking lot of the hotel with a gunshot wound in the chest.
Police were responding to reports about gunshots at 10:16 a.m. at the Comstock Street hotel.
According to court documents, Gibson was visiting some hotel guests when Cook and Rodriguez pulled up in a black Chevrolet Tahoe.
Cook was driving the SUV.
Video surveillance reportedly shows Gibson and Rodriguez walking down a ramp from the hotel to the parking lot. Rodriguez, who was behind Gibson, had a gun in his right hand and was wearing a full face mask, documents said.
Witnesses said the two men struggled, with Rodriguez ordering Gibson to get inside the SUV. But after being smacked or slapped, Gibson hopped back out of the Chevrolet and was overheard saying he wouldn’t get in the SUV if he was going to be hit, court documents said.
Witnesses then reported hearing two gunshots and seeing Gibson fall to the ground just before the SUV sped away.
Documents state that Rodriguez’s girlfriend of one week had texted him that morning, claiming she had woken up in a Kennewick apartment to find Gibson was inappropriately touching her.
This story was originally published October 2, 2020 at 12:54 PM.