Gang member, 22, sentenced to 2 decades for Richland New Year’s killing
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Felipe Manjares Jr. pleaded guilty in March to premeditated first-degree murder.
- Judge Jackie Shea-Brown sentenced Manjares to 21 years in prison.
- Manjares and others fled the state and were identified via an Instagram photo.
A 22-year-old gang member was sentenced to more than two decades in prison for killing a man at a troubled Richland apartment complex.
Felipe Manjares Jr. pleaded guilty in March to premeditated first-degree murder for firing four of six shots at 21-year-old Michael Castoreno in December 2022.
The murder, motivated by Manjares’ gang ties, left Castoreno’s mother Kistina Ortiz devastated.
“You took a piece of us that we can never get back,” she said at a previous hearing for a co-defendant. “What you did was pure evil, wicked and vile.”
Castoreno’s father, also named Michael, said he had a troubled relationship with his son that he will never be able to fix now.
“No one deserves to die the way my son did,” he said in a written statement this week to the judge. “No life should be taken because someone decided their reasons mattered more than another person’s future.”
Manjares faced 20 to 26 years under state sentencing guidelines. Prosecutors and defense attorneys asked for 21 years in prison, and Judge Jackie Shea-Brown agreed.
Manjares is the second shooter tied to the New Year’s Eve murder at the Columbia Park apartments. In all, four people, including Manjares’ mother, have admitted to their roles in the killing.
Manjares and Rafael Torres Topete, now 20, were at the apartment complex when they crossed paths with Castoreno, according to court documents.
Prosecutors previously said the men were looking for a confrontation that night.
They asked Castoreno for his gang affiliation and when he answered, Manjares pulled out a gun and began firing, according to court documents.
Manjares and his brothers have ties to a Sunnyside-area gang, court documents said.
Video surveillance showed the initial four shots were fired by Manjares, and then Torres Topete is believed to have fired two more. They then fled.
A police dog search led officers to an apartment tied to a separate robbery investigation.
Manjares and several others involved in the shooting were identified through a photo posted on Instagram from the night of the shooting, in which they were wearing the same clothes as seen on security cameras in the area.
By then, Manjares fled to Oklahoma with the help of his mother, Rosalina Guzman, and her boyfriend, Valentin D. Sanchez.
Guzman pleaded guilty to first-degree rendering criminal assistance in October 2024, and was sentenced to seven months in jail.
Sanchez pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree rendering criminal assistance in May 2026.
Torres Topete was arrested in the Tri-Cities after an unrelated robbery. He pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in April 2024 and was sentenced to the 12-year maximum.