Shooting suspect found dead near Royal City
CHERYL SCHWEIZER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 5 years, 7 months AGO
Senior Reporter Cheryl Schweizer is a journalist with more than 30 years of experience serving small communities in the Pacific Northwest. She began her post-high-school education at Treasure Valley Community College and enerned her journalism degree at Oregon State University. After working for multiple publications, she has settled down at the Columbia Basin Herald and has been a staple of the newsroom for more than a decade. Schweizer’s dedication to her communities and profession has earned her the nickname “The Baroness of Bylines.” She covers a variety of beats including health, business and various municipalities. | September 5, 2020 1:00 AM
ROYAL CITY — A man suspected of killing a coworker near Vantage was found dead Aug. 28 in an orchard north of Royal City. Ismael Garcia, 57, no address listed, apparently died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to a press release from the Kittitas County Sheriff’s Office.
Garcia was sought in connection with a shooting at an orchard south of Vantage at about 1 p.m. Aug. 27. Garcia allegedly shot and wounded Ismael Suarez Serrano, no address listed, a crew chief for Auvil Fruit. Both Garcia and Suarez Serrano worked for Auvil Fruit, according to the KCSO press release.
Garica also allegedly shot at a coworker who witnessed the shooting, but the witness was unharmed. Garcia drove away from the scene in a company-owned pickup.
Suarez Serrano died before he could be airlifted for medical treatment.
Members of Garcia’s family contacted the sheriff’s office at about 3:30 p.m. Aug. 27 and said Garcia had called and told them he was on Frenchman Hills Road north of Royal City. The area was searched by Grant County Sheriff’s deputies and members of the Kittitas County Special Response Team. The truck was found abandoned near Road D Southwest, about five miles northwest of Royal City.
Searchers found Garcia’s body at about 6 a.m. Aug. 28, under a tarp in an orchard near where the truck was discovered. No information on a motive for the shooting was available.
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