Tri-Cities teen ID’d as weekend drive-by shooting victim. He died in his car

A 19-year-old found dead in a crashed car with a gunshot wound Saturday night has been identified as Julian Chavez of Kennewick by the Benton County Coroner’s Office.

Coroner Bill Leach said an autopsy is planned in Spokane on Tuesday.

“He was a good kid and always smiling,” according to a GoFundMe started to help his family pay for a funeral.

The online fundraising site described him as artistic, a talent he planned to use as a barber. He was saving money to attend barber school.

“Unfortunately for all of us, that is not going to happen as he was taken so suddenly and abruptly,” according to the fundraiser. “He will never be able to accomplish his dreams.”

Chavez did not belong to a gang, according to a post by one of his aunts on social media.

Drive-by shooting

The death is being investigated as the 15th homicide this year in Benton County, Wash., with about half of them in Kennewick.

Gunfire was reported at 9:15 p.m. in the 1100 block of West 5th Avenue, according to police reports. Officers arrived to find a car had crashed into a parked vehicle, with a man dead inside one of them.

Police could see that the car had been hit by gunfire and it was later discovered that the man who died also had been shot. He was sitting in the driver’s seat, according to initial dispatch reports.

Police have not released more about the shooting or identified a suspect.

It was the third shooting in Kennewick this weekend.

A teen was shot early Friday evening in a drive-by on Columbia Center Boulevard across from the mall near Shari’s Cafe and Pies and Men’s Warehouse.

His wound did not appear to be life-threatening, according to police. Adrian Cole, 20, was arrested later that night at a home on the 1100 block of South Olympia Place in Kennewick and was booked into the Benton County jail on suspicion of drive by shooting.

Cole was due to appear in Benton County court on Monday.

Then, about 1:15 a.m. Saturday, Kennewick police reported cars had been hit by bullets on the 1500 block of South Olympia Street, not far from where Cole was arrested.

The 15 homicides confirmed so far this year, which do not include vehicular homicides, are a record, beating the record last year of 10 homicides.

This story was originally published October 31, 2022 at 11:48 AM.