Crime in small-town America

A very violent street gang:

A suspect is behind bars in the execution-style shootings of a 3-year-old Yakima girl and her parents earlier this week, an attack authorities said was only the latest in a string of murders and robberies committed by a violent street gang over the past month.

Identifying members of the gang by face and name but not the name of the gang itself, Yakima police Chief Sam Granato also linked the suspects to a seemingly random road-rage shooting on Lincoln Avenue Wednesday night that left a 21-year-old man dead.

Veteran Yakima police officers said they could not remember three homicides in one week.

"They are a very dangerous group, and that's why we're asking the public for help in getting these guys off the streets," Granato said during a news conference Thursday at police headquarters. "They are violent ... and we consider them to be armed and very dangerous."

Following the arrest Wednesday of 23-year-old Jose Luis Sanchez, authorities identified three more members of the gang they were seeking in connection with a drug ripoff Sunday night in the 1400 block of South 18th Avenue that ended in the deaths of 21-year-old Ricky Causor and his daughter, 3-year-old Mya.

The other primary suspect in the ripoff scheme was identified as Mario Gil Mendez, 24, aka Gato. He is still at large.

One of the two men sought as material witnesses in the case turned himself into Yakima police shortly before 6 p.m. Thursday, Lt. Gary Belles said. Belles said later in the evening that he was not sure yet whether detectives would end up holding the 24-year-old man, identified as Carlos Orozco Jr., aka Flaco.

Investigators were still looking for the other material witness — Manuel Sanchez, 23, aka Puppet. He is believed to be somehow involved in the crime, according to a police bulletin, but investigators said he was not at the scene.

Detectives broke open the case Wednesday after receiving a tip that led them to a house on South Ninth Street, where a .45-caliber pistol was seized as well as clothing belonging to Jose Sanchez.

Sanchez, aka Junior, was arrested after a traffic stop on nearby Beech Street and made his preliminary appearance Thursday in Yakima County Superior Court. Judge Ruth Reukauf set bail at $5 million.

According to Granato, Sanchez and Mendez robbed Ricky Causor of marijuana and money and then tried to shoot all four members of the family, including Causor's common-law wife and their two girls.

The intruders made the parents and their girls kneel on the floor of their apartment, then began shooting them, Granato said. The mother, whose identity is being withheld by the Yakima Herald-Republic for her protection, shielded her 2-year-old from harm and survived four gunshot wounds.

Police found Ricky Causor and little Mya lying in pools of their own blood. They died from multiple gunshot wounds. Granato said the attack was planned out and identified Mendez as the triggerman.

"We have information that that was their intent — to leave no witnesses," he said, explaining the mother and 2-year-old survived because "there was so much blood (the killers) probably thought they had completed their work."

Ricky Causor's stepfather, Juan Garcia, said Thursday afternoon that word of the arrest and identification of the other suspects provided some relief to the grieving family.

But memories of the victims will always be with them, Garcia said.

"Our pain has just started," he said.

Granato also linked Wednesday night's shooting to the gang, saying there was a "strong connection" that an associate of the group played a role. He would not elaborate on the link.

Although details remain sketchy, police said the 10:15 p.m. shooting was precipitated by a traffic altercation between occupants in two cars at the intersection of North Sixth Street and Lincoln Avenue.

When one of the cars stopped for a stop sign, a man exited the other car, described as a maroon four-door Honda sedan, and opened fire on the first car, blowing out the back window and hitting a backseat passenger, 21-year-old Octavio Abundez Jr., in the head.

Abundez was taken to Yakima Regional Medical and Cardiac Center, where he clung to life through the night before succumbing about 12:30 p.m. Thursday. Police said he was not a member of a gang, nor were his friends.

In addition to the two shootings this week, Granato linked the gang to the Jan. 24 armed robbery of a Farmers Insurance office in downtown Yakima and the murder of a 32-year-old Yakima woman whose body was found dumped by the side of the road in the Cowiche area earlier this month.

The victim, Tonya Bonser, had been shot once in the face.

Her mother, Penny Bonser, said she believes her daughter became caught up in a war between two gangs in the city.

In 50 years of living in Yakima, "I've never seen it this bad," Penny Bonser said about the latest streak of violence.

Urban crime comes to small town America.