One person is dead and several others were taken to the hospital after a shooting erupted at a business near North 4th Avenue and West Court Street in Pasco early Saturday morning. Police say they responded to reports of shots fired around 1:20 a.m., and by the time officers arrived, they found multiple victims and launched a homicide investigation that remained active into the morning.
According to the TriYakNews.com report, the Pasco Police Department confirmed that several people were transported from the scene to a local hospital while one person was pronounced dead at the location. As reported by NBC Right Now, the Richland Police Department said the incident involved multiple victims who sustained both stab and gunshot wounds. Initial reports indicated that three people had been shot, according to the Tri-City Herald, though the total number of people hospitalized and their conditions have not been independently confirmed.
Street Closed as Investigators Process the Scene
North 4th Avenue between West Court Street and West Ruby Street was closed for several hours while investigators worked the scene, and drivers were asked to avoid the area. Pasco Fire Department personnel provided emergency medical care and transported patients to the hospital, per the TriYakNews.com report. Investigators were expected to remain on site for several hours to process evidence.
Police described the shooting as appearing to be isolated, saying there is no ongoing threat to the community, a characterization echoed in the elkhornmediagroup.com report, which quoted investigators describing the shooting as an isolated incident with no ongoing threat to the public. Authorities have not released the identity of the person killed, nor have they released details about what led to the shooting.
Regional Agencies Pitch In on the Investigation
Pasco police thanked several regional agencies for assisting at the scene, including the Franklin County Sheriff's Office, the Benton County Sheriff's Office, and police departments from Kennewick, West Richland, Richland, and Prosser. The report from elkhornmediagroup.com similarly noted that multiple regional agencies assisted, underscoring the scale of the response across the Tri-Cities.
Investigators are asking anyone with information or video evidence to contact the Pasco Police Department at 509-628-0333 and reference case 26-056485. Per NBC Right Now, detectives are particularly interested in surveillance footage from nearby businesses, security camera recordings, and cell phone videos that might help piece together what happened before officers arrived.
Separate Stabbing Report Nearby
At around the same time, Pasco police also responded to a report of a stabbing near Interstate 82 and Fourth Avenue, according to the Tri-City Herald. The evidence gathered so far does not establish whether that stabbing report is connected to the fatal shooting under investigation, and police have not said so.
Pasco has seen gun violence at large gatherings before. In a separate incident reported by the Tri-City Herald, five people were wounded when gunfire broke out at a large Halloween party in west Pasco, with officers responding around 12:30 a.m. to reports of gunfire on the 5500 block of Robert Wayne Drive and the wounded taken to Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland. No deaths were reported in that earlier case as of the following Monday, and no suspects appeared to have been booked in connection with it. Whether Saturday's shooting took place at a Halloween gathering has not been independently confirmed, and the name of the business involved has not been released.
