On a summer evening in Kennewick, Washington, the life of Daniel Bueno, a 36-year-old Hispanic male, was cut short. On August 5, 2023, what began as a verbal dispute inside a residence on the 2600 block of Sixth Avenue escalated into a fatal encounter. A neighbor's security camera captured the chilling sequence of events as the argument, which lasted about ten minutes, spilled outside. Bueno left the home and got into his Dodge pickup truck.
He was followed by Katelynn Vinson, a 25-year-old woman also known as "Trigger".
As Bueno sat in the driver's seat, Vinson approached the open passenger window and continued the argument. The confrontation took a deadly turn when a single gunshot rang out. Vinson had fired a handgun, striking Bueno under the arm. Audio from the security footage recorded Bueno's pained words, "You f---g ho, you got me in the lungs." In response, Vinson was heard telling him to take himself to the hospital and "quit crying like a little b--h." A friend of Bueno's who was present called 911 around 9:45 p.m. Emergency services arrived to find the father of two wounded inside his truck. He was rushed to Trios Southridge Hospital, but succumbed to his injuries.
For months, the case remained one of Benton County's unsolved homicides. Investigators, using evidence that included DNA from the truck's window frame, identified Vinson as the primary suspect. She vanished for over a month after the shooting, but later reappeared and reportedly told an informant that the incident was an "accident" and that she "didn't mean for it to go down like that." The search for Vinson culminated on February 29, 2024, when detectives located her in Kennewick. She and a companion, 39-year-old Joe Gonzalez, fled from police, initiating a high-speed chase that reached speeds of 115 mph across the Tri-Cities. After Gonzalez bailed from the car, Vinson took the wheel before the vehicle became disabled and she was apprehended.
Katelynn Vinson was charged with second-degree murder. In March 2025, she pleaded guilty, describing the killing as a "terrible accident." She claimed that she had cocked the gun during the argument and that it discharged when she hit Bueno with it through the truck window. Her apology in court offered little solace to Bueno's grieving family, who remembered him as an amazing person, always ready to help those in need. Vinson was subsequently sentenced for her role in the death of Daniel Bueno.
