RENTON, Wash. — A man accused of shooting and killing three people, including a young child, has been charged with their murders.
Police said the shooting unfolded over the weekend.
On July 19, around 7:36 p.m., a person called 911 to report that multiple people had been shot inside a Hillcrest Terrace apartment that she had just been at.
When police arrived and the caller pointed out the apartment, through the sliding glass doors, officers saw two people on the ground with blood all around them.
Officers entered the home immediately to render aid, but the two people on the ground, a woman and a child, were pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators say it looked like both had been shot in the head, according to court documents.
Another woman, a 46-year-old, was found dead with apparent gunshot wounds in a bedroom of the apartment.
A GoFundMe has been established for the victims’ families.
What the witness said happened:
According to the witness, she was inside the apartment with the two women, the child and the alleged shooter before the events unfolded.
The suspect has been identified as 46-year-old Steve Vasquez. The witness said that one of the victims was Vasquez’s girlfriend.
She said Vasquez did not live at the apartment but was over often.
On the day of the shooting, all were inside the home.
According to court documents, the witness said she and one of the victims, a 39-year-old woman, were smoking outside when they heard what they thought was a gunshot come from the apartment.
The witness told officers that she did not hear any arguing before the gun went off, according to court documents.
The 39-year-old woman went around to the sliding glass doors to see what the noise was, when she was also shot, according to the witness.
Court documents say it appears the 39-year-old was shot in the head. The witness saw her fall to the ground and rushed over to her to see if she could help.
The witness then told police that she saw the 9-year-old child walking from the kitchen to the sliding glass door.
At this point, she ran out of the apartment and hid in the courtyard.
She said before she left, she saw Vasquez point a weapon at the child but did not physically see him shoot her, but she heard gunshots.
As she hid, she saw the shooter run out of the apartment, but no one else left.
It appears the woman who was shot first, the 46-year-old, was dating the alleged shooter.
It’s unclear who the child belonged to.
Arrest of the suspect
Police cleared the home when they got the 911 call, and no suspect was found inside.
They were able to get his name from the witness, who knew the victims and the shooter, and confirm the alleged shooter’s identity with the vehicle he left parked outside.
Officers were able to ping his cell phone location, and he was arrested in Burien a day later.
Vasquez booked into King County Jail for two counts of second-degree murder domestic violence and one count of second-degree murder.
Bail has been set at $10 million.
“The sheer brutality of the defendant’s conduct in this case demonstrates that he is capable of violence on a devastating level,” prosecutors said in court documents.
According to charging documents, he had no felony convictions but had a misdemeanor for DUI in April. For this conviction, he was sentenced to 60-month suspended sentence, the conditions of which included 12 months of active supervision through a probation officer at the MRJC.
An additional condition of the sentence required that the commit to jail to serve a one day sentence in jail. He did not show up for his day in jail and had to appear in court on July 24.
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