Ezekiel Sanchez, a 25-year-old Hispanic male, was killed on April 20, 2022, in what Kennewick police described as a gang-related shootout. On that Wednesday afternoon, Sanchez was a passenger in a Kia Sorento when gunfire erupted at the intersection of First Avenue and Dayton Street. He sustained a fatal gunshot wound to the head. The driver of the Kia, later identified as Alexis Talavera-Gonzalez, drove Sanchez to a freestanding Kadlec emergency room and left him there.
Sanchez was not breathing when he was brought in and was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.
The initial investigation was treated as a death investigation, but it was quickly reclassified as a homicide. Investigators found the abandoned Kia Sorento in the emergency room parking lot, noting it had blood inside and bullet holes in the hood. The driver who dropped off Sanchez fled in another vehicle. This led police to a home on West Fifth Avenue, where several people were detained, and a firearm was recovered from the second vehicle, which also contained a woman and a 5-year-old child.
Through their investigation, which included reviewing surveillance footage and gathering intelligence, detectives identified a Chrysler Pacifica as the other vehicle involved in the shooting. They identified Ramon Candido, 26, and Beatriz Terrazas, 23, as the suspects. On April 25, 2022, police located and arrested both Candido and Terrazas. Candido was booked into the Benton County Jail on suspicion of second-degree murder, while Terrazas was booked for first-degree rendering criminal assistance.
According to court documents, police believe Candido, a member of a rival gang, fired the fatal shot from the Chrysler Pacifica, which Terrazas was driving. Terrazas's 4-year-old daughter was also in their vehicle at the time of the shooting. The trial for Ramon Candido began in December 2023, where prosecutors argued that he shot and killed Sanchez, while Candido's defense attorney claimed he was acting in self-defense to protect his pregnant girlfriend and her child from aggressive rival gang members.
