Tri-Cities nursing assistant suspended for houseparty shooting

A registered nursing assistant has been suspended for shooting a woman after being asked to leave a Pasco house party.

Patty S. Vazquez Lopez, 29, was issued her registration by the Washington state Department of Health in 2014.

The training license expired in June 2019, while she was still facing charges in Franklin County Superior Court.

The Pasco woman pleaded guilty to a reduced charge four months later and got a three-year, three-month sentence. She currently is on work release.

Now, the health department has charged her with unprofessional conduct and is giving Vazquez Lopez the chance to respond before taking enforcement action.

In a statement signed Dec. 30, Vazquez Lopez was told that if she fails to defend against the charges, she could face discipline and sanctions under state law.

The document cites Vazquez Lopez’s September 2018 arrest for attacking a woman and the woman’s father, then shooting a partygoer in the stomach at a North 19th Avenue home.

3 women arrested

According to court documents from the criminal case, Elisette Guajardo was having a small party in her garage apartment when Vazquez Lopez and two other women showed up.

At some point, Vazquez Lopez approached Guajardo and repeatedly asked, “What’s up?”

Guajardo and her friend tried to calm Vazquez Lopez and tell her there wasn’t a problem, but Vazquez Lopez continued to insist there was an issue, documents said.

She was asked to leave. That’s when the trio grabbed Guajardo, dragged her outside and started hitting her.

Guajardo’s father came outside and tried to help his daughter by pulling the women apart. But then one woman hit him while an unknown man held him from behind.

Vazquez Lopez told the group she was going to get her “strap,” then went to her Honda and retrieved a 9mm gun, said investigators.

She opened fire on the house as Guajardo, her father and others ran inside, court documents said.

Sandra Mendoza, Guajardo’s friend, was hit in the abdomen with the bullet that exited through her back. She was hospitalized but the wound was not life-threatening, said officials.

At least two bullets also hit the home.

Pasco police, called at 1:54 a.m., found the three suspects nearby and recovered a Smith & Wesson 9mm pistol and matching ammunition from inside the parked Honda.

The three women initially denied being at the party when shots were fired, but later admitted it and claimed they acted in self-defense.

Vazquez Lopez originally was charged with first-degree assault, drive-by shooting and first-degree burglary. She admitted one count of second-degree assault with a deadly weapon.

In her guilty plea, Vazquez Lopez said she “acted in a fashion that was insufficient to form the basis for a valid defense.”

The victims approved of the resolution to prevent a trial, prosecutors said at the time.