Police Arrest Man In Killing Of Trooper Authorities Had Been Looking For Owner Of Pickup Truck Seen Near Site Of Shooting

Police on Friday night arrested a man in connection with the shooting death of a Washington State Patrol trooper, the State Patrol said.

A man was arrested and a weapon recovered during a traffic stop at about 10:30 p.m. in Basin City, about 25 miles north of here, state patrol Sgt. Dave Robinson said.

He would not immediately disclose the identity of the arrested man, or say whether he was the person authorities had sought for questioning.

Trooper Jim Saunders, 31, was killed Thursday night in West Pasco, near where U.S. 395 crosses the Columbia River from Kennewick. The death of Saunders, a veteran of nearly eight years with the patrol, saddened co-workers and outraged Gov. Gary Locke.

Saunders, who frequently was assigned to protect Locke when the governor traveled to the Tri-Cities, was the first trooper shot and killed in the line of duty in more than 25 years, the patrol said.

Earlier, authorities were searching for Nicholas Vasquez Solorio, 28, a Tri-Cities resident whose green 1992 Mazda pickup truck was found Friday morning in a garage near a cluster of apartments in Kennewick. The truck was seen at the shooting site.

Pasco police said they wanted to question Solorio. They refused to say whether they thought he was driving a different vehicle but did alert law enforcement agencies throughout the West to watch for him.

“He was the last known driver of the vehicle,” State Patrol spokesman Lt. Glenn Cramer said. “That does not mean that he is the shooter.”

An autopsy found Saunders suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the head and neck, Franklin County Coroner Dan Blasdel said Friday night. He wouldn’t specify the number of wounds.

The bullets were from a medium-caliber handgun, Blasdel said. Evidence indicated the shots had been fired from a range of 2 to 4 feet.

The autopsy found no evidence, such as gunpowder residue on the skin, that Saunders fired his service weapon, Blasdel said.

Fellow officers in the patrol’s Kennewick detachment and law enforcement officers in other agencies who had worked with Saunders were devastated by his death, patrol spokesman Lt. Dave Trunkey said.

Saunders was born in Clarkston, Wash., and grew up in the Wenatchee area. Commissioned in December 1991, he worked in the Coulee City area for three years before being assigned to the Kennewick detachment in January 1996, Trunkey said.

“He had a great deal of pride in this agency and it showed in the way he conducted himself and to everyone he came in contact with,” Trunkey said. “He loved every aspect of this job.”

While a cadet in Olympia in 1991, Saunders served on the patrol’s Executive Protection Unit that watches the governor’s mansion as well as protecting Locke on his travels to southeastern Washington.

“In fact, I was just there a week or so ago and talked to Trooper Saunders about his work and his family, so this is a personal loss to me as well,” Locke said in a statement issued by his office. “I am outraged that he has been murdered.”

The shooting occurred in a commercial area just off U.S. 395, but there apparently were no witnesses, Pasco Police Capt. Doug Chambers said. Officers had interviewed several people who may have witnessed events just before and just after the shooting, he said.

The trooper had radioed dispatchers that he was making a traffic stop. His car apparently did not contain a video camera.

The patrol’s Troopers Association, Lieutenants Association, Memorial Foundation and Senior Managers Fund put up a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the shooter.

Saunders is survived by wife, Billie, who is pregnant, and a young daughter, Trunkey said. He attended Wenatchee Valley College and received a bachelor’s degree in political science from Whitworth College in Spokane.

Saunders’ slaying was the first since Trooper Frank Noble was shot and killed near Toppenish in 1972.