Suspect in Yakima Walmart carjacking, burglary and high-speed chase misses court appearance
YAKIMA – A gang member accused of stealing a car with a teenager and child on board missed another day in court due to illness.
The 30-year-old Yakima man was originally scheduled to make a preliminary appearance on Tuesday afternoon in Yakima County Superior Court, but was unable to attend that hearing and subsequent hearings on Wednesday and Thursday due to illness, court staff said.
He’s accused of taking a Door Dash driver’s car at gunpoint around 8:40 p.m. Monday, and driving off with the driver’s 17-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son from the East Chestnut Avenue Walmart. He’s also a suspect in a burglary at a South First Street hardware store and a high-speed chase hours later.
The Door Dash driver, who had run in the store to pick up a delivery, said his daughter called him and said a man was driving off with the car, according to a Yakima police affidavit.
He found his children shortly afterward by Sarg Hubbard Park, the affidavit said. The girl told police the man got in the driver’s seat, pointed a gun at her and told her not to scream.
The man dropped off the children in the 300 block of Chalmers Street, and they went back to the Walmart to find their father, the YPD affidavit said.
Four hours later, police went to Morton’s Supply, 1724 S. First St., for a burglary. Security cameras showed two men break the glass on the store’s front store around 12:30 a.m. Tuesday, grab more than $1,500 worth of bolt cutters and leave, the affidavit said.
While police were investigating the burglary, YPD’s camera system spotted the Door Dash driver’s car in the area of South 18th Street and East Mead Avenue, the affidavit said. The car sped off when a Union Gap police officer attempted to stop it, according to a Union Gap police affidavit, leading the officer on a high-speed chase with speeds approaching 80 mph.
Officers lost sight of the vehicle but found it empty near the intersection of East Thorton and Buwalda lanes, the Union Gap affidavit said. Police and Yakima County sheriff’s deputies located the man and another suspect in the burglary nearby.
The suspects’ clothing matched what the burglars were seen in the video wearing in the break-in at Morton’s, the affidavit said.
Judge Richard Bartheld made an initial finding Tuesday that police had probable cause to arrest the man on suspicion of first-degree robbery, second-degree burglary and eluding police. He set a placeholder bail at $150,000. Court records show the man is a documented street gang member.
The second suspect, a 28-year-old Granger, Washington, man, was released on pretrial supervision at the Tuesday hearing after being booked into the jail on suspicion of taking a motor vehicle without permission and second-degree burglary.