18-year-old shot and killed in a Kennewick street. She dreamed of a music career

An 18-year-old woman was shot and killed early Wednesday at a Kennewick apartment complex.

Callers to 911 reported hearing up to four gunshots in the area near the corner of Kent Street and Seventh Place at 3:05 a.m., according to Kennewick police and dispatch reports.

When officers arrived, they found Alyssa Moore dead in the street from apparent gunshot wounds.

Investigators believe the attack wasn’t random, and there isn’t any immediate threat to the public.

The roads were expected to be closed for several hours as the investigation continued.

An autopsy is tentatively scheduled for later this week.

Family members told the Herald she previously attended school in Grandview. She was planning on moving to Seattle to pursue a career in music. She loved to sing and rap, they said.

Kierra Cobb and Kai Chapman said she was an outgoing, loving and beautiful person who knew when and how to make people smile.

“She was motivational,” Chapman said. “She would always teach us things. Always told us to be who we are.”

The intersection is surrounded by several apartment complexes that stretch west of South Garfield Street, between Fourth and 10th avenues.

School buses were being diverted around the neighborhood near Park Middle School, Kennewick High and St. Joseph’s Catholic School, and police were advising parents to have students walk a different route to avoid the area.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to contact Kennewick police on the non-emergency dispatch number at 509-628-0333.

Moore’s death is the third homicide in Benton County in a little over a week.

Benton County sheriff’s detectives are investigating the death of Hector Cortez Ballardo, 33, after his body was found along a rural road south of Kennewick on Sept. 14.

Then on Friday, Jaden Quintero, 23, was gunned down outside of a Washington Street home in downtown Kennewick.

This story was originally published September 22, 2021 at 9:47 AM.