Gunman who shot 6 at teen party near Tri-Cities reportedly stopped to reload, said parent
A gunman in Benton City opened fire on a group of young partygoers over the weekend then reportedly stopped to reload, said a woman who later helped comfort some who were there.
Six people were hit by gunfire at the Friday night party and one person died.
Another person was seriously wounded and four more were treated for non-life-threatening injuries, said Benton County sheriff’s officials on Sunday.
As of Monday morning, officials had not said if they have a suspect, if he has been arrested or is dead.
Jail records show no adult was arrested in the mass shooting. Names of juvenile arrested in Washington state are not readily available to the public.
Investigators also have not said if the person killed or those injured were teens or adults.
The Benton County Coroner’s Office said Monday an autopsy is being scheduled for the person who died but no other information was being released.
There were unconfirmed social media reports that the person who died was a student but it was unclear what school the person attended.
The Tri-City Herald reached out to the Kiona-Benton City School District on Monday, which was the district’s final day of classes.
Ki-Be Superintendent Pete Peterson told the Herald none of his students were involved in the incident. He believes the party involved students from the Kennewick School District who were celebrating graduation. That district’s graduation ceremonies were on Saturday.
While Angela Sanchez’s son was not at the party, several of his friends were there, she told the Herald.
“We spent the evening cleaning blood off of kiddos who came home from trying to have a fun night out. Children who rushed other children to the hospital while on FaceTime asking how to keep these babies alive till they got there,” she posted on Facebook. “There was no reason for this. These kids did not deserve what happened to them and it was horrific and traumatic.”
She later told the Herald that the teens said a guy walked into the party and just started shooting at them.
When he ran out of bullets, he began reloading, she was told. Teens rushed out of the home to get to their cars and to take wounded friends to the nearest hospitals.
According to dispatch reports, at least one victim with a gunshot wound to the stomach was taken to Prosser Memorial Hospital, about 15 miles away.
“These kids are not in gangs,” Sanchez told the Herald. “(They were) all really good kids who just went to the party to have fun.”
A sheriff’s office post on Sunday said the shooting happened just after midnight on Saturday morning on the 25000 block of North Willard Avenue, a rural neighborhood south of Interstate 82 west of the Tri-Cities in Eastern Washington.
While investigators have said the shooting stemmed from an argument or dispute, Sanchez said the teens she spoke with didn’t know of any argument.
“There was no target,” she said. “They just walked in and opened fire on anyone that was standing there.”
She told the Herald that some of the teens went to her home, and she was then on the phone giving first aid help, telling them to apply pressure on wounds while teens could be heard crying and moaning in a car.
This story was originally published June 12, 2023 at 11:06 AM.