Bystander in weekend shooting identified

MOSES LAKE — A 68-year-old Moses Lake man was identified as the bystander who was fatally struck by gunfire after an alleged bar fight in Moses Lake over the weekend. Police arrested two men from Moses Lake in connection with the homicide.

After midnight on Sunday Ismael Ortiz Jr., 25, and Jose Rodriguez, 25, both of Moses Lake, and an unidentified third male, were involved in a fight inside Neppel’s Dockside Pub, according to Moses Lake Police Department Capt. Dave Sands.

The three men left the bar and started walking east on West Broadway Avenue. After they left, Ortiz reportedly began firing multiple rounds from a handgun. Robert Cook, 68, of Moses Lake, reportedly entered West Broadway Avenue in his pickup truck as Ortiz started shooting and was struck in the head by one of the fired shots. Police do not believe Cook was involved in the incident with Ortiz, Rodriguez and the unidentified third male, and do not believe he was the intended target of Ortiz’s gunfire.

Cook reportedly crashed into the back of an unoccupied 2006 Hyundai Sonata. Brian Reese, who is the owner of the Sonata, told the Columbia Basin Herald he had parked alongside West Broadway Avenue and gone inside the Broadway Bar & Grill. He said Cook’s truck pushed his vehicle down West Broadway Avenue and into the Tacos El Rey parking lot. Reese said his vehicle was totaled in the collision.

A witness told the Columbia Basin Herald that they heard a number of shots fired in the area of Neppel's Dockside Pub and said it sounded like a few of them were fired from the inside of a car. The witness, who asked to stay anonymous, reports being outside of the Broadway Bar & Grill when the shots were fired and seeing the car in question strike a garbage can on the side of West Broadway Avenue and drive off.

“Immediately after the shooting, three vehicles were observed by witnesses leaving the area. Detectives are interested in speaking to anyone in those vehicles as potential witnesses to the crime,” Sands said. “They are also concerned one or more of the vehicles seen leaving may have been struck by the gunfire.”

Ortiz and Rodriguez were taken into custody a short time after the incident. Ortiz was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder. Rodriguez was arrested on suspicion of rendering criminal assistance. More charges are expected to be added against both suspects, according to Sands.

Ortiz’ arrest isn’t his first run in with the law. In March 2008, when he was 17, Ortiz pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter in connection with the death of his close friend Leoncio Garcia, 18, of Moses Lake. Ortiz was 16 in November 2007, when he was playing a game of Russian roulette with a .22-caliber gun with Garcia and the gun accidentally went off, according to a previous report from the Columbia Basin Herald. Garcia was hit in the chest and died from the wound.

Stemming from a separate conviction, Ortiz was released from prison early in 2015 after he had previously been sentenced to five and a half years of incarceration in 2012 when he, along with three other men, forced their way into a Moses Lake home and robbed two men at gunpoint.

Detectives are still attempting to find the third unidentified male involved in the incident. The man is described as Caucasian in his mid-30s, with a thin build and wearing a white tank top during the incident.

Anyone with information about the bar fight or the shooting is asked to contact the Moses Lake Police Department at 509-764-3887.

Richard Byrd can be reached via email at city@columbiabasinherald.com.