Update | 2 Tri-City teens charged with murder after a $25 marijuana deal went wrong
Ricardo Rivera was dropping off $25 in marijuana oil when he was killed during a robbery in April, according to court documents filed in Benton County Superior Court.
The 17-year-old was shot in the neck but managed to get out of his car and stagger down the sidewalk, where a neighbor came out to help him.
Rivera told the man he’d been shot over “a gram of weed.”
He repeated it as Kennewick police officers tried to save his life on the sidewalk on the 2100 block of Rhode Island Court in Kennewick. An ambulance rushed him to Kadlec Regional Medical Center where he died.
On Tuesday, two of the four suspects accused of orchestrating the April 28 robbery were arrested.
Jacob A. Young, 18, and his 15-year-old half-brother are each charged with first-degree murder.
Young is being held on a $1 million warrant in the Benton County jail.
His half-brother, whose name was not released, is in the Benton-Franklin Juvenile Detention Center.
Young was arrested about 10:30 a.m. at a home in the 9100 block of Arrowhead Avenue after a police officer spotted him driving.
His half-brother was arrested at his home on the 900 block of North Beech Avenue in Pasco.
According to court records, the two teens were part of a group of four seen running from the scene of the shooting just off Arrowhead Avenue, north of the Gage Boulevard and Steptoe Street intersection.
Young and his half-brother have an association with a gang known as “Blitz Crew,” which is made up of a combination of Crips and Gangster Disciples.
Marijuana deal
Kennewick police were able to piece together the time leading up to the shooting using a combination of Rivera’s cellphone and information from a friend.
Rivera had used the SnapChat messaging app to communicate with a man called “Dontae100.” Police tracked that name to the Arrowhead Avenue home where Young lives, according to court records.
Two days before the shooting, Rivera shared images on the app of marijuana oil products.
On the day of the shooting, Young sent a message asking for a gram of oil to be dropped off on the 2100 Rhode Island Court.
One of his close friends told investigators he helped Rivera get ready to drop off $25 worth of marijuana oil to a new customer right before the shooting.
He personally helped Rivera count $4,900 in cash, which was kept in a black zippered bank envelope. Most of the money was in $100 bills. Normally it was kept hidden in the glove box of his Altima.
One of Rivera’s final messages shows a photo taken from the inside the Altima as he approached Arrowhead Avenue.
Within minutes of sending the message, Rivera was shot.
Police believe he was confronted as he pulled up into the neighborhood. A single 9 mm shell casing was found at the scene.
Neighborhood gunshots
Neighbors heard gunshots just before 5:15 p.m. on April 28, and saw Rivera walking away from an idling Nissan Altima. They also reported seeing four males running away.
When officers arrived, they found Rivera sitting on the sidewalk and bleeding from his neck. When officers asked who had shot him, Rivera said, “Dante.”
“Shortly after, Ricardo had difficulty talking, said he couldn’t breathe and that he loved his mom,” according to court records.
One witness reported seeing the group of four teens all wearing hooded sweatshirts and dark-colored bandanas run into a home on the 9100 block of Arrowhead Avenue.
Surveillance cameras in the area also caught the four, with one of them appearing to be holding something heavy against his waist.
When police searched the Altima, they found the leather bank envelope in the side door with $3,058 inside.
Washing machine, shoes and a gun
Kennewick police searched the Arrowhead home the day after the murder, and found Young and his father inside.
When Young came outside, he was allegedly wearing shoes that matched what a suspect wore running from the scene.
Police also found four sets of clothing in the washing machine. They were partially wet and appeared to have been treated with spot bleach cleaner. Some of the clothing had a “red-colored liquid” on them that had been treated with bleach.
Young’s father later told police, Young and his half-brother along with two other teens had been playing basketball at the house on the day of the murder.
When police questioned Young, he denied ever leaving the house.
Investigators said they were able to link the spent 9 mm shell casing to a Pasco police shooting where the Blitz Crew founder was charged with shooting a juvenile rival in the arm.
The teen was in police custody at the time Rivera was shot, but several of guns he was linked to have not been found.
This story was originally published August 23, 2022 at 2:40 PM.