Four people, including two juveniles, are in custody after Moses Lake police say a gang-related assault and robbery near Seventh Avenue and Balsam Street led detectives to an apartment stocked with two handguns and an AK-47 rifle. A juvenile male was beaten and robbed by several people on September 7, and within days investigators traced the case to an address where a specialized police unit says the illegal weapons were hidden.
Moses Lake Police booked 24-year-old Jose Tinoco and two juveniles for participation in the robbery and assault, while 21-year-old Zunem Sanchez-Clemente was booked on weapons charges, according to KPQ. Sanchez-Clemente's charges include second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm and illegal delivery of a firearm, the outlet reports, and all four suspects were taken into custody following the execution of a search warrant at an apartment near Seventh Avenue and Balsam Street. As Apple Valley News Now also reported, police found two pistols and an AK-47 rifle inside the apartment where the suspects were hiding.
Investigators Cite Gang Ties in Balsam Street Case
Moses Lake Police Department investigators believe the September 7 assault and robbery, along with the suspects involved, are gang-related, per the same KPQ report. The search warrant on the apartment was obtained and executed by police, who seized the two handguns and the AK-47 during the search, according to a statement posted by the Moses Lake Police Department on Facebook.
The case landed just two days before a separate gang-related shooting near Fern and Gibby streets left a 17-year-old male wounded in the leg on September 9. That shooting led to a search warrant at a Crouse Street apartment, and the wounded teenager sought treatment at Samaritan Hospital, the station's report notes. The back-to-back incidents point to a cluster of youth-involved, gang-linked violence hitting Moses Lake within the same week.
A String of High-Profile Robbery Arrests
The Balsam Street case wasn't the only headline-grabbing robbery arrest in Moses Lake that week. On September 7, Grant County Sheriff's deputies arrested a 21-year-old woman for first-degree robbery and felony threats after she allegedly pulled a knife on a public employee and stole his cat along Patton Boulevard NE, according to MyNorthwest. That suspect was tracked down by a K-9 unit after fleeing through a fence along State Route 17, the outlet reported.
Citywide numbers show a mixed picture. Overall violent crime edged up slightly to 110 total incidents from 107 the year before, according to Grant County Trends data. Aggravated assaults, meanwhile, climbed to 83 reported incidents in 2025, up from 75 in 2024 and 67 in 2020, the same data shows, and made up the vast majority of the city's violent crime total last year.
What the Weapons Charges Could Mean Legally
Washington's 2023 assault weapons law is cited in connection with the recovered rifle. Under RCW 9.41.390, enacted through HB 1240, the law addresses the manufacture, importation, distribution and sale of semiautomatic assault weapons, according to the Washington State Legislature.
If prosecutors pursue first-degree robbery charges against the adult defendants, the stakes rise considerably.
The case adds to a run of Moses Lake police activity this month; another arrest made by the department came the same week. The reports do not discuss whether the juvenile suspects will face charges as adults or whether the recovered firearms are tied to other shootings in the city.
