On a cold evening in Pasco, Washington, on December 3, 2014, the life of Lorenzo Richie Fernandez, a 22-year-old Hispanic male, came to a tragic and violent end. He had received a phone call earlier that night, a call that lured him away from his parents' home and to the Stonegate Apartments on Road 68. Fernandez, a father to a young daughter, drove his Ford Mustang to the complex for what he believed was a meeting. Instead, he was met with an ambush. As he sat waiting in his car, he was surprised by two assailants who fired eight shots into his vehicle. In a final, desperate act, Fernandez slammed on the gas pedal, his car lurching forward and leaving a 20-foot burn pattern on the pavement before it collided with two other cars and a truck. When first responders arrived, they found a faint pulse and pulled him from the car to perform CPR, but his injuries were too severe, and he died there in the parking lot.
The investigation into the shooting quickly revealed a complex plot born from an ongoing and violent gang feud that had recently resulted in other homicides and injuries. Police determined that Lorenzo Fernandez did not live at the apartment complex and had been specifically targeted in retaliation for a previous killing. The plot was orchestrated by three individuals. The initial contact was made by Mary A. Faucett, who had followed Fernandez into a convenience store earlier, obtained his phone number, and later called him to arrange the fatal meeting under the guise of a sexual hookup. She waited in a nearby SUV as the events unfolded. Her husband, Kenyatta K. Bridges, accompanied the gunman to the scene, armed with a 9mm handgun, though he did not fire any shots.
The shooter was identified as 18-year-old DeShawn I. Anderson. About a week after the murder, Anderson was located and arrested at a Kennewick apartment. During interviews with police, he admitted that Bridges had been with him during the homicide. The investigation led to the arrests of Bridges and his wife, Mary A. Faucett, on Christmas Day in Spokane. Anderson was charged with first-degree murder. Bridges was charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy, and unlawful possession of a firearm. Faucett faced charges of conspiracy and rendering criminal assistance for her role in luring Fernandez to his death. For their parts in the ambush, all three suspects would face significant prison sentences. DeShawn Anderson, the man who pulled the trigger, was convicted by a jury and sentenced to more than 93 years in prison. Kenyatta Bridges pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter and received a sentence of ten years and five months. Mary Faucett also pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter and was sentenced to a term slightly longer than her husband's, with prosecutors arguing that she was extremely culpable for setting the deadly events in motion.
