EPHRATA — Prosecutors are seeking a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole for two men charged with murdering a Warden man.

Charges against Israel Morfin, 27, Sunnyside, and Adrian Adame-Madrid, 19, Othello, were changed to aggravated murder in the first degree for Morfin and aggravated murder in the first degree — accomplice liability for Adame-Madrid. The charge requires prosecutors to select either life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty.

The men reportedly pulled up beside Manuel A. Arousa, while he sat with a friend in front of his friend’s house. Morfin and Adame-Madrid came to the side of the vehicle, according to the Grant County sheriff’s office report.

When the men allegedly started taking the stereo out of the car, Morfin and Arousa argued about money Arousa owed. After the victim gave Morfin money, the two men allegedly continued removing the stereo from Arousa’s car, according to a witness.

As the two men took the speakers from the trunk, Arousa said something to Morfin, reportedly upsetting him and causing him to draw an automatic pistol and begin assaulting Arousa with it, according the sheriff’s office. As he beat the man with the handgun, it went off and the bullet struck Arousa in the head.

Morfin and Adame-Madrid allegedly fled Warden. An Adams County sheriff’s deputy spotted Morfin’s car at the intersection of Bench Road and state Route 24. When the deputy tried to pull the vehicle over, Morfin allegedly didn’t stop, continuing south on SR 24, according to the sheriff’s office.

The state patrol used an airplane to track the car.

During the chase, Morfin allegedly tossed a handgun out of the car, but it was retrieved by Mattawa police Chief Chris Jensen.

Morfin’s car stopped after hitting a spike strip on SR 241, heading toward Sunnyside.

The man reportedly fled into a field where he was tracked using a Yakima County K-9.

Morfin is also charged with unlawful possession of a firearm and attempting to elude police. Adame-Madrid is also charged with robbery in the first degree.