Pasco murder suspect claims he was defending nephew outside dance club

A Grandview man charged with a fatal shooting outside a Pasco dance club will likely argue to a jury that he believed his nephew was in danger and he was protecting him.

Santos Flores-Alcaide, 28, allegedly retrieved a pistol from his vehicle after a fistfight broke out Aug. 30 between his nephew, Enrique Alcaide, 22, and Eduardo Angon Del Villar, 19.

Flores-Alcaide fired several shots at close range at Angon Del Villar, then turned the gun on a witness who was trying to help the victim.

“At this point in time we’re looking at most probably a ‘defense of others’ defense,” said Shelley Ajax, Flores-Alcaide’s lawyer.

Judge Robert Swisher has ruled that the relatives will be tried together before one jury in Franklin County Superior Court for Angon Del Villar’s death. The trial is set to start Feb. 22 and last up to 3  1/2 weeks.

On Thursday, during a hearing to discuss several motions in the case, defense attorney Richard A. Smith asked to know Flores-Alcaide’s defense in case it will change the trial strategy for his client, Alcaide.

Smith told the court earlier this month he will argue denial and self-defense for Alcaide.

The men are charged with one count each of first-degree murder.

Flores-Alcaide also faces felony charges of first-degree assault and possession of a stolen gun.

Alcaide and Flores-Alcaide confronted Angon Del Villar outside the West Columbia Street club about 1:30 a.m., according to court documents. During the fight between the two younger men, Alcaide allegedly told his uncle to get the pistol.

Afterward, the suspects left in their truck, but they were quickly stopped by Pasco police on Lewis Street.

Alcaide claimed Angon Del Villar had choked him, and that his uncle “had come up and shot the victim during the altercation,” documents said.

Investigators found a 9 mm pistol, which had been reported as stolen, outside the club along with multiple shell casings.

Thursday, Deputy Prosecutor Dave Corkrum said his office will not use any evidence of gang involvement in the trial and won’t introduce statements made by the suspects, even for impeachment purposes.

However, Corkrum said they intend to use evidence recovered from a seized cellphone. Alcaide is seen in a photo wearing a white shirt, and prosecutors want to show jurors that is the same shirt detectives later found in their truck with Angon Del Villar’s blood on it.

Prosecutors allege the suspects took their shirts off and stashed them in the truck just before being pulled over.

Flores-Alcaide is in the Franklin County jail on $1 million bail. Alcaide’s bail is set at $500,000, according to jail records.

This story was originally published January 28, 2016 at 7:30 PM with the headline "Pasco murder suspect claims he was defending nephew outside dance club."