Latest news with #CriminalApprehensionTeam
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Yahoo
16-year-old arrested in gang-related shooting at busy Clearwater Avenue intersection
Police arrested a 16-year-old accused of firing at a car at a busy Clearwater Avenue intersection in a gang-related shooting last week. Three teens were on the sidewalk near the corner of Edison Street about 6:15 p.m. on April 28 when one of them reportedly opened fire at a passing car, Kennewick police Commander Isaac Merkl told the Tri-City Herald. The car, with about three or four people inside, sped away, and Merkl said investigators haven't determined if anyone in the car also fired a shot. No one was reported wounded. Police talked with the teens on the sidewalk but they didn't have enough evidence to hold them, Merkl said. In the past week, Kennewick detectives found evidence linking the teens to the shooting, he said. Tri-City Regional SWAT team and Criminal Apprehension Team detectives searched two Clearwater Avenue homes on Thursday morning and arrested the 16-year-old, Kennewick police said in a Facebook post. The teen was booked into the Benton Franklin Juvenile Detention Center on suspicion of first-degree assault and illegally having a gun.
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Yahoo
Man accused of stalking allegedly groped stranger outside a Kennewick gym
A 23-year-old man with a history of threatening and stalking women has been arrested for allegedly groping a woman he didn't know outside of a Kennewick gym. Alexis A. Castro Tapia is in the Benton County jail in lieu of $50,000 after his preliminary appearance on Friday. He is being held on suspicion of fourth-degree assault with sexual motivation. He allegedly groped a woman putting her child in a car outside of Kennewick's Gold's Gym at 7:45 p.m. on Thursday, May 1. When she spun around with her cellphone out, Castro Tapia allegedly ran to a running SUV. The car had a temporary plate that was registered to a Mitsubishi Eclipse registered to Castro Tapia's father. Police allegedly matched Castro Tapia's driver's license picture with video from the victim's phone. They found him at his apartment with his wife. Castro Tapia allegedly told police 'he has impulses about women' and saw the woman and child coming out of the gym. He claimed he approached her but didn't touch her. When he saw her holding the phone, he said he was 'spooked' and ran away. While police initially arrested Castro Tapia for the felony of indecent liberties, Prosecutor Eric Eisinger said the facts didn't quite fit the crime. Instead, at the moment, fourth-degree assault, a gross misdemeanor, is a better fit. Police and prosecutors will continue to investigate to determine if more serious charges should be brought. Castro Tapia has a history of stalking, harassing and threatening to rape women. He was out on a $1,000 bond after being accused of cyberstalking, a gross misdemeanor. The woman in that case received calls and texts from a series of unfamiliar phone numbers for about a year. Many of them contained sexual content. While she tried to ignore them, the woman got a video in February showing her and her child getting into her car. This prompted her to call police. Detectives from the Metro Drug Task Force and the Criminal Apprehension Team were able to link one of the phone numbers to Castro Tapia. He was arrested and booked into the Benton County Jail for cyberstalking, a gross misdemeanor. He was released on $1,000 bond. He allegedly knew the woman through a friend, but she didn't know he had her phone number and wasn't expecting the messages from him. As police were investigating the accusation, they learned there were already two existing court orders aimed at stopping Castro Tapia from stalking women. The court orders show a pattern where Castro Tapia allegedly recorded both women, propositioned them and threatened to rape them. The court documents say he twice attempted to attack one woman, but she was able to get away. The first protection order, requested in 2023, said Castro Tapia spied on a woman and took advantage of times when he knew she was alone to go to her house and harass her. He also would show up at where she worked when he was intoxicated. This escalated to allegedly trying to rape the woman at her workplace. She was able to escape by pushing the man away and running to a place where she could lock the door. Less than a week later, he came to the woman's house. They struggled as he tried to get through the door. 'When I see him around town, I am scared,' the woman wrote. 'I told my managers about the situation. ... They set me up with a partner at work because I am still very scared, he will show up again.' Court Commissioner Andrew Howell agreed to issue the protection order, and it was renewed in 2024. A co-worker of the first woman said Castro Tapia became fixated on her as well, according to a protection order application filed in November 2024. That woman didn't know who Castro Tapia was before she started getting Facebook messages from him. The messages included a video taken of her from behind along with his comments, court documents said. When she blocked the account, the messages started coming from a new account. Castro Tapia started filming the woman at work and sent the messages to her TikTok account. He also told the woman he 'wanted to rape' her, said the order. 'I blocked him again and in that same moment, he sent my 11-year-old daughter a message telling her to tell me, 'Hi,' and that he wanted to 'f--k me' and do more things.'' After talking to her co-worker, she discovered who was sending the messages. 'I was very confused because I did not know Alexis well and could not understand why he was targeting me,' she said in the petition for the protection order. 'I am truly afraid that Alexis will hurt my children or myself if this order is not granted.' A protection order was issued on Dec. 19.
