‘Seriously concerned’ judge agrees to send Kennewick shooter to prison for 9 years

A 35-year-old man was ordered to prison for nine years after he opened fire outside of a Kennewick bar in 2019.

The sentence was six years fewer than Anthony Lee Colbray could have faced after shooting a man four to five times outside the 3-City Sports Bar just before 2 a.m. in June 2019.

Colbray pleaded guilty to first-degree assault and second-degree illegal gun possession in Benton County Superior Court.

A plea that could have potentially led to a sentence of 11 1/2 and just over 15 years.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys asked for a sentence that was about two years less than the bottom end of the state sentencing range, requiring a special exceptional sentence.

They pointed out that Colbray has no previous violent crimes and that the victim agreed to the nine-year prison term.

But it was a recommendation Superior Court Judge Joe Burrowes had some problems with.

“I think this would be a different result if it was a larger caliber,” he said during Colbray’s recent sentencing. “The trouble for the court is the nature of the violence and the number of rounds that were fired. I’m seriously concerned with respect to the sentence.”

While Burrowes said he was concerned about going below the sentencing range, he agreed to follow the recommendation.

“Sir this can not happen again,” he said. “You were fortunate that this victim did not perish.”

Colbray apologized for the violence.

Parking lot shooting

It’s not clear what prompted the argument between Colbray and Theodore Turner, then 36, just before 2 a.m. at the 3-City Sports Bar on Columbia Drive.

Colbray approached Turner while he was in the bar according to video and witnesses. An argument soon became physical and traveled into the parking lot.

While they were outside another person intervened, and broke up the fight.

As Turner was heading back into the bar, Colbray went to his car and grabbed a .22 caliber pistol and fired six times.

Turner was hit four to five times.

According to police reports at the time, a second man, Juvenal Torres, also was hit. Colbray wasn’t charged with wounding Torres.

Officers found Turner on the ground in front of bar with wounds in the leg, pelvis and elbow. He was taken to Trios Southridge Hospital.

Torres discovered later that he had been shot and went to Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland.

Investigators found six, .22-caliber shell casings in the parking lot.

Colbray ran from the shooting, and he was tracked down two months later in Umatilla, Ore.