Jury acquits 3 murder suspects in one of largest shootouts in Pasco history

After two days of deliberations, a Franklin County jury acquitted three men of the premeditated murder of a 20-year-old Pasco man.

The three men were accused of killing killing Denali Anderson and wounding Caiden Gawith during a confrontation at a party in August 2022.

“This was probably one of the largest shootings that we’ve probably ever had in Pasco,” Prosecutor Shawn Sant said in his closing argument to jurors earlier this week. “I don’t recall another case that has involved so much shooting in that kind of a time span.”

The verdicts for Angel Garcia, 20, Osman Morales Salto, 20, and Brian Panduro-Valenzuela, 21, were delivered in front of a packed and silent courtroom Thursday afternoon. Anderson’s family, who attended the entire five-week trial, began leaving after the second set were being read.

Prosecutors apparently struggled to prove to jurors what happened in the chaos of the neighborhood shootout that night, including the apparent final two shots at Anderson while he was lying on the ground.

The defense attorneys argued during their closing statements that witnesses statements were flawed and security videos from the neighborhood were unclear.

They contended that their clients were defending themselves from an armed robbery.

The jury began deliberations Tuesday, Feb. 4, afternoon and reached a verdict late Thursday afternoon.

Jurors decided that Morales-Salto and Garcia acted in self defense. This will allow their attorneys to be paid by the state.

All three were originally charged with premeditated first-degree murder and first-degree assault.

Attorney Steve Graham, who represented Panduro-Valenzuela, told the Tri-City Herald in a statement that a mask and gloves linked to Anderson and found at the scene were the key pieces of evidence that cemented the self-defense argument.

“I think the police assumed this shooting was related to prior disagreements or that this was gang-related, but there was no evidence to support that,” he said.

One of largest shootings in Pasco

Witnesses testified that the party on Pimlico Drive was the second stop for many people after a downtown Pasco party was closed down.

According to reports, Anderson, Gawith and a third man arrived together.

Gawith testified he and Anderson approached three men sitting in a Nissan Altima about 11:15 p.m. and briefly interacted with them.

“Caiden says he and Denali were walking away, heard a commotion, and saw Angel get out of the car, fired one shot at Denali,” Sant said. “Osman then shot Caiden.”

Anderson fell to the sidewalk and began firing a .22 caliber pistol.

That kicked off a shootout that left Gawith wounded and Anderson dead. Panduro-Valenzuela also was hit.

Anderson was hit multiple times, including a shot that wouldn’t be possible if Anderson had his arm raised like he was firing a gun.

One of the key pieces of evidence came from a doorbell camera that shows two figures approach the Nissan. One of them walks out of the sight of the camera. Then there are two gunshots.

Sant claims that was Morales Salto killing Anderson.

“It’s very clear that those final two shots were into Denali,” he said. “You can probably hear in one of the last moments a scream, “No,” in several of the videos.”

The prosecutor also pointed out that after the shooting that no one told police, including Panduro-Valenzuela and Morales Salto that someone tried to rob them. They also didn’t tell friends or family about an attempted robbery.

Robbery gone wrong

However, the defense attorneys said there were numerous issues with the prosecution’s allegations. They argued the prosecutor was attempting to get the jury to speculate about what happened.

“It can be easy to accept a lot of speculation and hypotheses that are argued that aren’t necessarily supported by the evidence,” Garcia’s attorney Bevan Maxey said. “This case is full of substantial reasonable doubt.”

Graham and Morales-Salto’s attorney Tracy Collins argued Anderson and the other men approached the Altima intending to rob the defendants.

All of the defense attorneys said the three men were in the car, minding their own business while Garcia made a “blunt,” which is a cigar with a portion of tobacco replaced with marijuana.

They argued Anderson had gloves, a mask and black clothing. One attorney described him as a “ninja.”

They pointed to the defendant’s testimony where they said that Anderson pulled out a gun and pointed it at Panduro-Valenzuela’s head before the shooting started.

“The state would suggest to you that all of this happened for no reason,” Maxey said. “Caiden Gawith and Denali Anderson were just walking down the street and by this car and for no reason (there is a shooting.)“

“Collins said prosecutors wanted jurors to speculate about what happened when Morales-Salto stepped out of the picture in the doorbell security video.

“He stepped off the screen and then you hear the shot,” Collins said. “So what? It doesn’t show what he did. It doesn’t show a gun in his hands. The state wants you to take this theory of this is what happened and run with it.”

This story was originally published February 6, 2025 at 11:17 AM.