Pasco man charged with I-82 drive-by. He shot at a man with kids in the car, say police

A Pasco man accused of shooting at a driver on Interstate 82 this past week has been charged with first-degree assault.

Julio Cesar Herrera Jr., 24, was also charged with drive-by shooting, eluding police, possession of a stolen motor vehicle and circumventing an ignition interlock, according to a charging document filed in Yakima County Superior Court last week.

A man called 911 shortly after 10 a.m. Jan. 31, 2022, and said someone in a Ford Fusion had shot at him about 3 miles east of the Parker exit, according to court documents. He said neither he nor his children, who were in the car with him, were injured.

A Washington State Patrol trooper spotted the Ford coming from Union Gap and turned on his emergency lights to stop the car when it left the freeway at East Nob Hill Boulevard, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Herrera pulled into the AM/PM parking lot at the corner of East Nob Hill Boulevard and South 18th Street, but instead of stopping, pulled out on South 18th Street, hitting a truck that was trying to enter the lot, the affidavit said.

Following a chase in East Yakima, where speeds reached between 60 and 70 mph, police found the car abandoned at the intersection of South Naches Avenue and East Beech Street, where it had hit a parked car, the affidavit said.

Herrera was found hiding in a nearby alley and was arrested with assistance from Yakima police and a Yakima County sheriff’s patrol dog team, the affidavit said.

The man who called 911 told troopers that he had been at the AM/PM when Herrera asked him if he was a gang member, and when he said he wasn’t, Herrera followed him toward Wapato, where he shot at him, the affidavit said.

Troopers found the car Herrera was driving was reported stolen in Yakima, and that Herrera can only drive vehicles equipped with an ignition interlock device, the affidavit said.

He has a prior conviction for driving under the influence in Benton County District Court.

He is being held in lieu of $100,000 bail in the Yakima County jail.