A disagreement over a parking spot at a Richland apartment complex turned into a gun-pointing incident late Friday night, according to police, who tracked down the suspect vehicle within minutes and arrested the driver on a second-degree assault charge.
Richland police responded to an apartment complex on Aaron Drive at about 10:09 p.m. on October 30 for a reported disturbance involving a gun, according to Apple Valley News Now. Witnesses told officers that a dispute over a parking spot ended with a man pulling out a gun, pointing it at a woman, and then driving off.
Suspect Vehicle Located Within Minutes
Officers wasted little time responding. Per the same account, Richland police spotted the suspect vehicle leaving the area and were able to pull it over within a few minutes of the initial call.
The driver was arrested without further incident, the report notes, and was sent to the Benton County Jail on a charge of second-degree assault. The evidence reviewed does not establish the driver's identity, the woman's identity, whether anyone was injured, or the type of firearm involved, and no information on a plea or court outcome has been made available.
Gun Incidents Have Rattled Richland Before
The Aaron Drive case follows a string of recent firearm scares around Richland. Police had already stepped up patrols near bars in the Uptown area after a run of fights and a previous fatal shooting there, according to the Tri-City Herald. In one of those incidents, the paper reported that a felon allegedly threatened customers with a gun inside a bar before a father and his two adult sons took the weapon away and held him until police arrived; jail records showed 38-year-old Jon Devin Miller Jr. was booked into the Benton County jail on multiple counts, including second-degree assault and unlawful possession of a firearm.
In a separate case on Lee Boulevard, witnesses reportedly said a man pointed a gun at two people, prompting a response from the Tri-Cities Regional SWAT Team, according to a report carried on NewsBreak. The man came out after a few minutes and was taken into custody following a brief standoff, that account states.
Parking Disputes Turning Dangerous Elsewhere
Richland is not the only place where a fight over a parking space has escalated to gunpoint. In Opa-locka, Florida, police said Ralph Douson Dagrin pointed a handgun toward two people and threatened their lives during a parking-space dispute, according to WSVN. Dagrin was arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a firearm, and a judge found probable cause and set his bond at $7,500.
Under Washington law, second-degree assault covers a range of conduct and carries varying classifications depending on the specific findings involved; a cited excerpt from the Washington State Legislature's criminal code notes that second-degree assault paired with a finding of sexual motivation is classified as a class A felony, though that provision does not determine how every second-degree assault charge, including this one, will ultimately be classified or resolved in court.
