An arrest has been made in a deadly shooting in Washington state last week that left a 23-year-old mother dead.
The department said they responded to the 911 call and found Lupita Ponce-Penaloza dead in a garage apartment, Pasco Police said.
Johnathon Villegas, 30, was identified as the suspect, and a warrant for his arrest on second degree murder charges was issued. He was eventually located in Pendleton, Oregon — about 65 miles from the crime scene — early Saturday morning.
According to the Tri-City Herald, investigators believe Villegas was one of two shooters who killed Ponce-Penaloza, court documents reveal.
Those court documents say a friend told investigators that the victim went to a friend’s apartment to meet Villegas, whom she called “Trucha.”
“In messages to the friend, Lupita questioned whether Trucha had tried to set her up,” a probable cause affidavit said. “There was also a text message sent from Lupita telling this friend that the friend may need her to call ‘911 if s*** goes down.’”
The two roommates who lived at the apartment gave slightly different versions of what went down. One said that Villegas and Ponce-Penaloza arrived together and that Villegas pulled handgun from beneath a coffee table and shot her, then opened the door for another man, who also shot her.
The other roommate said they saw only one person shooting.
While police have not released any information about a second shooter, investigators say they found spent shell casings from .40 and .45 caliber guns in the apartment.
The Herald said that Villegas has a lengthy criminal history dating back to 2009 and prohibited from owning gun because of assault and robbery convictions.
Villegas awaits extradition to Washington in jail in Oregon’s Umatilla County.
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[Featured image: Lupita Ponce-Penaloza/GoFundMe]
