James goes to court
EPHRATA — A Moses Lake man who allegedly admitted to shooting and killing a Ephrata man because the man was breaking into his home last week was charged.
Jesse James, 23, of Moses Lake, faces charges of second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm and tampering with physical evidence. Grant County Superior Court Judge John Antosz previously set James’ bail at $100,000, but the amount was reduced to $10,000 by Grant County Superior Court Judge Knodell, per the recommendation of the Grant County Prosecutor's Office. Other charges may be added pending the completion of the investigation into the shooting death of Thomas Hernandez, 21, of Ephrata.
The charges stem from an incident on May 2, when a woman contacted MACC Dispatch reporting a shooting occurred at her home in the 8700 block of Neppel Road Northeast. The woman reportedly advised that her son, James, shot an unknown man inside her house. Deputies arrived at the scene and found Hernandez, who received a gunshot wound to his upper body and ultimately died from the wound, according to police records.
James’ mother stated she was in her bedroom and heard two loud noises, one of which she said she thought stemmed from someone kicking in or forcing open the front door. She said she thought the second noise was a gun, but stated she didn’t hear any commotion prior to the two loud noises. Police records indicate the front door of the house sustained damage “due to the victim forcing entry into the house.”
The woman allegedly went into her living room to discover Hernandez laying on the floor and her son in the kitchen. She said she “may have” seen a gun sitting on the kitchen table, but she wasn’t sure. Her memory was reportedly “very unclear,” which lead a detective to believe she was withholding information.
A man who was allegedly in the house at the time of the shooting said after the incident he asked James what happened and James responded by saying, “he was gonna rob us” and “he kicked my door in.” James initially told deputies he went to his mother’s Neppel Road residence with Hernandez and another man to collect some items he was going to try to sell Hernandez.
James later changed his story, claiming the other person he was with wasn’t real and only Hernandez went with him to the residence. When they arrived at the house James and Hernandez walked to a sliding glass door at the rear of the residence, with James telling deputies that at one point he turned around and noticed Hernandez had a pocket knife in his hand and was holding it by his side.
The sliding glass door was locked and James went around the house and entered through the front door, locking the deadbolt as he entered and leaving Hernandez locked out of the house. He allegedly showed Hernandez a TV through the glass door, which Hernandez expressed interest in buying. James told Hernandez to come back the next day after Hernandez stated he didn’t have enough money on him to buy the TV. Hernandez reportedly became upset and James went to his bedroom to retrieve a pair of speakers to sell him in an attempt to diffuse the situation. James said he heard a loud noise that sounded like the front door of the house was being kicked in.
“Jesse immediately grabbed the pistol and ran out of the bedroom, where he encountered Hernandez in the dining room area. Jesse described that he fired his pistol at least four times, but he believed he missed some shots,” wrote a detective. “Jesse stated that after the shooting, he tossed the pistol onto or near a couch that was next to where Hernandez was laying on the floor.”
James claimed that earlier in the day on May 2 Hernandez got upset with him after plans they had fell through and Hernandez attempted to take a gun that was allegedly tucked into his, James’, waistband. He described the pistol he used to shoot the victim as a nickel-plated 9mm, with deputies obtaining a search warrant for the Neppel Road house and locating unfired 9mm bullets, pistol magazines, broken pistol magazine springs, a fired slug and the pocket knife James claimed Hernandez was carrying.
During the search of the house deputies reportedly could not locate the 9mm pistol. James said he “may have hidden” the pistol and he would have taken the shell casings as well, because “that’s what you do when something like this happens,” according to police records.
“Jesse implied that if we (deputies) would put it on paper that he would be released from custody, he would show or tell us where the gun was located. He also stated that he knew how this worked and then we would just have a murder weapon to charge him with,” wrote a detective.
Richard Byrd can be reached via email at city@columbiabasinherald.com.