Third suspect arrested in Palomino Club fatal shooting
A third suspect has been arrested in the shooting that killed an Eastern Washington University student outside The Palomino Club last week.
Spokane police arrested Anthony G. Williams, 22, Tuesday night in connection with the fatal shooting of Eduardo Villagomez, 21, on Jan. 18. He was booked in the Spokane County Jail on second-degree murder and drive-by shooting charges.
Villagomez was a bystander in a gunbattle that broke out in the club’s parking lot around 2 a.m. after a party honoring Martin Luther King Jr.
Two other suspects, LaShawn Jameison, 21, and Kwame Bates, 26, were arrested last week and have been charged with drive-by shooting. But police don’t believe Bates or Jameison fired the shot that killed Villagomez.
According to court documents, Bates told police he was leaving the club with Jameison and got into a verbal argument with another man who had pushed a woman outside. The man then went to his vehicle and opened the back door. Bates told police he believed the man was getting a gun.
Bates told officers he went back to his car and grabbed his own gun, which he had a concealed weapons permit for, court documents say. He and Jameison saw the man returning with a pistol and hid behind a car in the parking lot as the man began shooting. Bates told officers he returned fire in self-defense and fired six or seven shots.
Surveillance footage from the club shows Villagomez was shot by a bullet fired by the man who started shooting at Bates, court documents say. Villagomez fell to the ground and was run over by a Mustang leaving the scene.
Police identified Williams as a suspect Tuesday after an anonymous tipster called Crime Stoppers and reported a female EWU student drove the shooter away from the scene, court documents say. When she was interviewed by officers, the woman told police she drove her boyfriend and another man, “AG,” away from the scene and said AG had an empty gun with him.
Detectives identified “AG” as Williams, court documents say, and the woman confirmed his identity after looking at a photo.
Williams appeared in court Wednesday on the charge. He is being held in jail on $250,000 bond.