On the evening of September 21, 2022, in Kennewick, Washington, 36-year-old Fernando Pulido was found in a West Fourth Avenue home with a gunshot wound. First responders transported Pulido to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead; his death was immediately investigated as a homicide.

In early November 2022, two people were arrested in Pasco: 29-year-old Lonny J.C. Barton-Owens on suspicion of second-degree murder and 31-year-old Rebecca R. Chavez for first-degree rendering criminal assistance. Court documents and witness testimony later described Pulido as having gone to the house that night and violently assaulting another man, and witnesses said Barton-Owens shot Pulido while attempting to defend the person being attacked. Prosecutors re-evaluated the case and eventually dropped the second-degree murder charge against Barton-Owens on the basis of those accounts.

Barton-Owens was later prosecuted for illegally possessing the firearm because he had prior felony convictions that prohibited gun possession; he received a sentence of one year and four months and was released after time served. Pulido’s family spoke at the sentencing hearing, saying he did not deserve to die and that they felt justice had not been served. If anyone has information about what happened that night or knew Fernando, please share it with investigators.