Kennewick homicide victim linked to woman’s murder in 2019
A fatally-wounded Kennewick man dropped off at an emergency room Wednesday was awaiting trial on a gun charge after a gang-involved murder nearly three years ago.
Ezekiel Sanchez, 25, was caught on camera in May 2019 with a group of gang members who stalked and killed a 20-year-old pregnant woman walking with her boyfriend in an east Kennewick neighborhood.
Sanchez was still facing charges for first-degree illegal gun possession in connection with that shooting.
While the suspected murderers, both 17 at the time, were arrested within a week of Andrea Nuñez’s death, police were not immediately able to locate Sanchez.
Eventually, Benton County prosecutors charged him with illegal gun and drug possession, and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
A little more than a year after the shooting, Sanchez was booked into the Benton County jail in August 2020.
About a year ago on March 5, 2021, a seven months later, he bailed out.
On Thursday, Kennewick investigators were still searching for answers to who shot Sanchez. At least two people were detained and questioned Wednesday night but by Thursday afternoon no arrests had been reported by police.
Detectives believe he was shot at the First Avenue and Dayton Street intersection near Kennewick High School sometime before 5 p.m. Wednesday. Police haven’t said if he was in a car or walking at the time.
He was taken to the freestanding Kadlec Regional Medical Center emergency room at the corner of 19th Avenue and Highway 395 shortly after 5 p.m.
When he was dropped off, he wasn’t breathing, according to police dispatch reports.
The driver of the SUV abandoned the car in the ER parking lot and climbed into another car that took him to Fifth Avenue in East Kennewick, according to police.
Kennewick Police Chief Chris Guerrero was the first to spot that car and stopped it in front of a Fifth Avenue home near Washington Street, said a news release.
The man jumped out and ran into a nearby house. Officers found a woman driving the car, along with a 5-year-old and a gun, still inside, according to the release.
Several people in the home were detained as police searched the property. But no one was arrested.
While Sanchez has ties to gangs, police have not said if they believe his death was a gang-related shooting.
People posting on social media who knew him said he was a good person and a good friend.
2019 shooting
While Sanchez had a lengthy history of trouble with the law, most of his crimes were not violent.
And the majority of his six convictions happened a decade ago in 2012.
His only conviction as an adult was in 2015 when he was caught illegally owning a gun. He was sentenced to a year and nine months in prison.
Then, on May 5, 2019 he was seen on home security footage stepping out of his apartment on Fir Street carrying a pistol.
He was then seen on video as one of three men who followed behind two teens eventually charged with the gang-related killing of Andrea Nuñez.
Nuñez was five months pregnant when she and her boyfriend started walking through the dark neighborhood shortly before 4:15 a.m.
Security cameras from homes in the area showed two men following the couple down the residential street. They were soon joined by three others who walked out of an alley.
Nuñez’s boyfriend later told Kennewick police they were on Seventh Avenue, near Gum, when they heard a man yell “Westside.”
Nuñez replied with a shout of “Southside,” according to court documents.
That’s when, and Adrian Mendoza, then 17, is accused of shooting her. She was shot once in her upper body and died.
He is charged with first-degree murder. Marin Jesus Rivera Jr., also 17 at the time, is charged with second-degree murder.
Both have been in the Benton County jail nearly three years awaiting trial.
This story was originally published April 22, 2022 at 5:00 AM.