Young father dies in gang-related drive-by shooting outside Pasco home

A young Kennewick father was killed last week when he was wounded in a drive-by shooting in a Pasco neighborhood.

Pasco police said the shooting was gang-related. It happened two nights after another deadly shooting involving gang members four miles away.

But Sgt. Rigo Pruneda told the Herald on Wednesday the shootings are not connected.

In the second incident, Roberto A. Flores Segura III was standing with five people outside a home on Monday, Aug. 8, when a car approached about 8:30 p.m., said Pruneda.

Someone inside the car opened fire, hitting the 25-year-old before speeding away from the house near Brown Street and 19th Avenue.

Segura was taken to Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland where he died the next day.

Franklin County Coroner Curtis McGary confirmed he died from the gunshot wounds.

Neither the car nor the suspects had been found as of Wednesday afternoon, but it is believed that the shooting was gang-related, Pruneda said.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to contact Detective Julie Lee at leej@pasco-wa.gov.

Flores is a Kennewick native who worked in customer service, according to his death notice.

His past Facebook posts said he was lucky to be a dad and loved his children.

“I’m still in disbelief this all happened,” the mother of his kids posted online. “My poor babies didn’t deserve this and he was a good dad, had a huge heart.”

Aug. 6 shooting

Two days earlier on Aug. 6, Angel I. Garcia, Brian A. Panduro-Valenzuela and Osman C. Morales Salto, all 18, are accused of opening fire on Denali Anderson, 20, and Caiden Gaiwith, 18.

While the three suspects are affiliated with gangs, police have not said whether the shooting was gang-related.

The teens have all pleaded innocent to charges of second-degree murder and first-degree assault in Franklin County Superior Court.

It remains unclear what prompted the shooting that started on the 6000 block of Pimlico Drive. According to investigators there was a house party going on in that neighborhood at the time.

Gawith told investigators that he and Anderson approached a white Nissan Altima, and that Anderson and Panduro Valenzuela started arguing and Garcia got out of the rear passenger seat and allegedly started shooting, according to charging documents.

He believes the other suspects also opened fire.

Gawith was shot in the lower stomach and in the chest. He admitted to having a gun found in a backpack but it’s unclear if he returned fire.

Anderson crawled away from the shooting, got his .22 caliber handgun and “unloaded the magazine” toward the Altima, according to Gawith’s statement.

He said he saw Anderson fall to the ground and then one of the other two teens got out of the Nissan and shot Anderson twice, according to the documents. He died at the scene.

The three suspects were found in Spokane a week later and arrested.