Shooting Victim Gives Sheriff's Office Information Before Dying at Hospital
Shooting scene on Lateral B Road
A Lower Valley man is shot at a home in Wapato yesterday, he tried to drive to the hospital, crashed his car on the way, and died a short time later. Now, more on the investigation into the shooting.
Al Arreola says he hears shots fired around his home on Lateral B Road all the time, but can't believe a shot fired yesterday afternoon killed someone nearby.
"I was kinda shocked too because, a neighbor, I don't speak to anybody to have that kinda stuff like that around here," says Arreola.
The Sheriff's Office says someone shot 36 year old Audelino Mendez around 3:30. Shortly after the shooting, detectives say Mendez attempted to get help, by driving himself to the hospital.
"We received a report of a man calling in reporting that he'd been shot at least one time," says Det. Sgt. Robert Udell.
Detectives say the victim was able to drive himself a few miles away from where he was shot, before crashing his car into a ditch in the 63-hundred block of Lateral A Road.
Deputies found Mendez around 4 p.m. Investigators say Mendez was able to give them some information before he died during surgery.
Investigators don't think the shooting is gang-related, and nothing in Mendez's background gives them a reason for why he would be a target.
"We've had contact with him in the past, but that is not showing us what the reason may be right now," says Udell.
The Sheriff's Office is hoping witnesses come forward to help them solve this murder, until then their best clues come from the deceased victim himself.
Al Arreola doesn't believe he's in any danger, despite yesterday's shooting.
"I feel safe, I've been here long enough, that's only the first time that happened around here," he says.
Authorities say this is the first homicide of 2012 in Yakima County. If you have any information, call the Sheriff's Office.