Associated Press
YAKIMA — A Wapato man who was killed and two others who were wounded at a cockfight near Toppenish appear to have been bystanders caught in a long-standing dispute among other people, authorities say.
Noe Sanchez, 22, of Wapato has been booked into the Yakima County jail for investigation of first-degree murder and two counts of first-degree assault, the Yakima County prosecutor’s office said Tuesday.
Sanchez was arrested Monday, the same day Adrian Mata, 26, of Wapato died at Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center.
Mata was shot multiple times, including once in the head, on Sunday at a home where about 50 people were attending an illegal cockfight.
Detectives believe the shooting occurred as the result of "some long-standing hostilities" between Sanchez and others at the cockfight, the Yakima County sheriff’s office said.
Adrian Mata’s brother, Reynol Mata, 19, was shot in the stomach and Guadalupe Hernandez, 18, also of Wapato, was shot in the leg.
The three men appear to have been innocent bystanders when they were shot, the sheriff’s office said.
It’s not been determined yet how many people fired weapons, the sheriff’s office said.
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