21-year-old rebellious jokester identified as victim of New Year’s Eve shooting in Richland
A 21-year-old Richland man described as a kind-hardhearted jokester is being mourned by family and friends after he was shot and killed at an apartment complex on New Year’s Eve.
The Herald has learned the victim was Michael “Native” Castoreno.
A brief Facebook post by Richland police over the weekend said the victim died after being shot several times at the Columbia Park Apartments about 9 p.m. Saturday.
Comments on the Facebook post said he had been working on a car in the parking lot earlier in the day. Another person said Castoreno was just outside of an apartment building when he was shot.
Richland police have released no more information since a post Sunday that said officials had finished processing the scene. No known arrests have been made.
At least one person stayed with Castoreno while police and medical staff arrived, according to social media comments.
Medics tried to save the young man’s life, but he ended up dying at the scene, said police.
Witnesses reported seeing several people leaving the apartment complex after the gunfire.
“Detectives are following up on leads as the investigation remains active and ongoing,” Richland police said on Sunday.
Police are asking anyone with information to reach out to investigators through the non-emergency dispatch line at 509-628-0333.
“He had a whole life ahead of him,” said a fundraiser created on *spotfund by one of Castoreno’s two sisters, Felicity Ortiz. “Michael wanted to do so much with his life. We Are Absolute Shocked and Grieving hard at this time.”
He also had a brother and two nieces, four nephews and his mother, said the post.
“People who knew Michael, knew he was the funniest dude ever,” she wrote. “His smile was Contagious. He was a big Jokester! Native was a rebel. He loved being independent. He loved helping others.”
People commenting on the fundraiser agreed, saying he was a kind-hearted man.
Donations can be made to bit.ly/CastorenoFundraiser.
Coroner Bill Leach an autopsy was conducted Tuesday morning in Spokane.
Online court records show Castoreno had some troubles with the law dating back to when he was a teenager. Most recently, he was sentenced to a year and three months in a Washington state prison for breaking into a home and having some stolen property in 2021.
His death was the second homicide in recent years at that apartment complex.
In 2019, Daniel Rice, 30, was shot to death in the parking lot by Kyle Johnson-Clark, a 29-year-old Aryan Brotherhood member.
Johnson-Clark was found guilty of murder in January 2022 and sentenced to prison for shooting Rice in the back reportedly over his relationship with Johnson-Clark’s girlfriend.
The complex also was the scene of a February 2021 shooting that left one person seriously hurt.
This weekend’s shooting ended a grisly year for Benton County in which there were a record high 19 homicides.