Kennewick man lies about gunshot wound to wrist

For the second time in a week, Pasco police were left searching for a crime scene that didn’t exist because a man lied about the cause of his accidental shooting.

Jorge Zavala-Caro, 33, of Kennewick, may face charges of false reporting and unlawful possession of a firearm for the early Thursday incident.

Officers were called to Lourdes Medical Center at 2:06 a.m. after Zavala-Caro showed up at the Pasco hospital with a gunshot wound to his right wrist.

The .22-caliber bullet was lodged in his arm, but it was not a life-threatening injury.

Zavala-Caro told officers that he was walking out of the Albertson’s store with his girlfriend when someone shot at him, said Sgt. Scott Warren.

Police went to the 20th Avenue grocery store and couldn’t find any evidence in the parking lot to match Zavala-Caro’s story. Both a store clerk and a person sleeping in a truck said they had not heard a gunshot, Warren said.

Officers returned to the hospital and asked Zavala-Caro about his story. He then said he’d been sitting in their car with his right arm hanging out the open window when he was hit, Warren said.

Police did not find any bullet holes in the car.

Officers noted that Zavala-Caro had powder burns near his hand, which means the barrel of the gun was touching him when it fired.

“He was confronted about all the inconsistencies of his story and he decided to come clean about what happened,” Warren told the Herald.

Zavala-Caro said they’d been out with friends, he was in the passenger seat, and at some point he reached into the glove box to get the pistol and accidentally pulled the trigger.

He claimed that he freaked out and threw the gun out the car’s window, Warren said. Officers thoroughly searched the street and weren’t able to locate it.

Warren said they’re not sure if Zavala-Caro was being honest about that detail.

Last Sunday, an Idaho man was visiting relatives in Pasco when he picked up a gun on a table and it went off. The gunshot wound to his left palm, which also affected his index finger, caused extensive damage and required treatment at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

Robert Garcia Garcia, 53, initially told police he had been walking to a store when two men approached him, demanded money and shot him.

Warren advises people to “tell the truth, treat all guns like they’re loaded, and never point a gun at something you’re not willing to shoot.”

This story was originally published March 11, 2016 at 9:53 PM with the headline "Kennewick man lies about gunshot wound to wrist."