In the early hours of Sunday, March 29, 2020, the life of 19-year-old Ashley Hernandez, a Hispanic female and active-duty soldier at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, was cut tragically short. Just before 5 a.m., deputies from the Thurston County Sheriff's Office were dispatched to an apartment on Skokomish Way in the Hawks Prairie area after receiving a distressing call from a man reporting that his girlfriend had shot herself.
Upon their arrival, deputies discovered a grim scene.
The man who had made the call, identified as 23-year-old Damien Martinez, also an active-duty soldier, was found deceased from a gunshot wound. Ashley Hernandez was found with a critical gunshot wound and was rushed to a local hospital, where she later succumbed to her injuries. Investigators noted that there had been an "ongoing disturbance" between Hernandez and Martinez prior to the shooting.
Authorities immediately began the difficult task of piecing together the events that led to the two deaths. The investigation focused on determining whether the incident was a murder-suicide or a double suicide. The Thurston County Coroner's Office conducted examinations to aid in this determination. Law enforcement officials made it clear that Martinez and Hernandez were the only two individuals involved in the shooting, and there were no outstanding suspects. The results of the autopsies were to be shared with the families before being released to the public.
