“It just seemed like the right thing to do”

CB Tech teacher and ex-MLPD chief on detaining suspect

MOSES LAKE — Dave Ruffin does not teach his law enforcement students at the Columbia Basin Technical Skills Center to do what he did on Wednesday when he detained a male suspect believed to have a gun in the school’s parking lot. “Absolutely not,” Ruffin said. “We don’t teach civilians to intervene in short, dangerous situations. But you know, it just seemed like the right thing to do.” A former Moses Lake Police Chief who teaches law enforcement at CB Tech, Ruffin responded on Wednesday when two students reported they were threatened by a man with a gun who had been driving white Mercedes in the CB Tech parking lot. The school went into lockdown and Ruffin said he instructed staff to call 911 while he went out to look for the suspect, later identified as Leonel Balderas-Mondragon, 22, who had apparently come to campus to pick up relative.