In the early morning hours of October 30, 2021, a man in Yakima, Washington, made a frantic 911 call to report that he and his friend had been shot at by people in a car. The friend, 34-year-old Jose Guillermo Cantu, a Hispanic/Latino man known as Joey, had been hit. Patrol officers rushed to an alleyway off of West Chestnut Avenue, where they found Cantu unconscious and suffering from severe gunshot wounds.
The officers performed CPR until paramedics arrived, but his injuries were too severe, and he died at the scene. His death was officially ruled a homicide.
Investigators began piecing together the events that led to the shooting. A crucial piece of evidence came from surveillance footage, which captured a dispute between Cantu, another individual, and the occupants of a silver Chrysler PT Cruiser shortly before the gunfire erupted. This footage became a focal point of the Yakima Police Department's investigation into Cantu's death.
The case saw its first major break less than a month later. On November 18, 2021, authorities issued an arrest warrant for 17-year-old Salomon De Alba for second-degree murder, identifying him as a suspect in the shooting. Police believed he was hiding in either the Yakima or Tacoma area and asked the public for help in locating him. A second significant development occurred in May 2022, when an 18-year-old male was arrested in connection with a separate, gang-involved shooting. During his interrogation, the 18-year-old confessed to his own involvement in the murder of Joey Cantu the previous October. He was subsequently booked into the Yakima County Jail on numerous charges, including first-degree murder, first-degree assault, and drive-by shooting.
The complex legal proceedings that followed brought a resolution for one of the suspects. Salomon De Alba, who was identified as the driver in the drive-by shooting, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of second-degree manslaughter. In April 2024, De Alba was sentenced to 27 months in prison for his role in Jose Cantu's death.
