In the early hours of June 21, 2022, Juan Carlos Zavala, a 32-year-old Hispanic man, was working on his car in the parking lot of the Rocky Mart convenience store on West Nob Hill Boulevard in Yakima, Washington. Two other people were helping him with a tire when gunfire erupted. Zavala was critically wounded in the shooting and rushed to a local hospital, where he died during surgery.
The two individuals assisting him were also injured but their wounds were not life-threatening.
Investigators with the Yakima Police Department quickly identified the shooting as gang-related. At the time of his death, authorities described Zavala as a "well known violent Yakima gang member." For months, police worked the case, seeking those responsible for the fatal attack.
A break in the investigation came in February 2023. The U.S. Marshals Violent Offender Task Force, working with local authorities, located and arrested 20-year-old Joseph Pelayo at a home in the nearby city of Union Gap. Pelayo was booked into the Yakima County jail on charges of murder and assault. Another man, Fabian Daniel Lopez, was also identified as a co-defendant in the case.
In June 2024, two years after the killing, the case was resolved in Yakima County Superior Court. Joseph Isaiah Pelayo pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. Fabian Daniel Lopez entered an Alford plea to the same charge, not admitting guilt but acknowledging that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict him. Both men were sentenced to 15 years in prison.
During the court proceedings, Juan Zavala's sister, Regina Robles, spoke directly about the impact of his death, particularly on his child. Addressing the men convicted of the murder, she said, “I hope they cry the tears that I cry, and (experience) the pain of a kid without their father now.” The case was considered closed as of June 2024.
