Car chase, robberies make for busy MLPD shift
CHERYL SCHWEIZER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 year, 6 months AGO
Workers replace broken lights at a Moses Lake gas station Friday. Moses Lake Police officers found the alleged burglar still in the building.
CHERYL SCHWEIZER/COLUMBIABASINHERALD
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. | March 3, 2025 1:00 AM
MOSES LAKE — Two people were arrested for theft after a pursuit and another in a separate burglary, both in Moses Lake, while Moses Lake Police Department detectives investigated a fatal accidental shooting, all in the space of about six hours Thursday night into Friday morning.
“Busy night,” said MLPD Captain Jeff Sursely. “We ended up calling the detectives out.”
Officers were summoned at about 9:30 p.m. Thursday after two suspects allegedly stole merchandise from the Moses Lake Walmart, 1005 N. Stratford Road. The suspects fled, but law enforcement had a description of the vehicle and the direction it was headed.
Grant County Sheriff’s deputies found the vehicle and attempted to stop it, but the driver kept going, according to an MLPD press release.
Moses Lake officers put out a spike strip and deflated the vehicle’s tires, the press release said; officers eventually stopped the car with what is called a PIT maneuver. A patrol vehicle received minor damage.
The driver, Jimmy Zapien, 28, Zillah, was arrested on suspicion of DUI, second-degree theft, reckless driving and first-degree driving with a suspended license. Kristen Steirs, 27, Yakima, was arrested on suspicion of second-degree burglary and second-degree theft.
The accidental shooting, which resulted in the death of an 18-year-old Moses Lake man, was reported at 11:30 p.m. Thursday. (See separate story.)
A theft and illegal entry were reported at about 2:30 a.m. Friday at the Circle K gas station, 640 Stratford Road.
The front door was locked, and an employee was in another part of the store when a man threw a rock through the door, according to the MLPD press release. The man walked behind the counter, took cigarettes from the shelf and authorized a $100 credit on one of the gas pumps. Moses Lake police found the man still in the store.
Ben Deboer, 33, Quincy, was arrested on suspicion of second-degree burglary, second-degree malicious mischief and third-degree theft.
Sursely said that there’s not usually that much activity in so short a time frame, but that law enforcement doesn’t dictate activity.
“Our job has to do with what everybody else decides,” he said.
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