Salvador Granillo Jr.

Salvador Granillo Jr., an 18-year-old Hispanic male from Seattle, was by all accounts a young man who had found his way. Known as "Junior" to his loved ones, he was a senior at Garfield High School. After a difficult start, he had turned his academic career around in his junior year. One of his teachers said that by the end of that year, Salvador was "a fully weaponized version of himself," earning good grades and becoming widely loved by peers and teachers who were excited to see what his future held.

On Easter weekend in 2025, Salvador was in Yakima, Washington, visiting his girlfriend. In the early morning hours of April 20, he was at a house party on South Keys Road in the Terrace Heights area. As he and his friends were leaving, Salvador tried to go back inside the home to return his girlfriend's car keys. He was blocked at the door by another partygoer, 21-year-old Israel Barriga-Vargas. Witnesses said the two men began to argue, and the confrontation escalated when Barriga-Vargas spat in Salvador's face. Salvador responded by punching him. Barriga-Vargas then pulled out a handgun and shot Salvador three times.

Friends rushed Salvador to MultiCare Yakima Memorial Hospital, but he died from his injuries. The shooting set off a manhunt for the suspect. The next day, members of the Pacific Northwest Violent Offender Task Force, which included U.S. Marshals and local law enforcement, tracked Barriga-Vargas to a home in the 900 block of South 90th Avenue. Authorities surrounded the residence, and Barriga-Vargas surrendered without incident. He was arrested and charged with second-degree murder.

At trial, prosecutors argued that Barriga-Vargas was the aggressor who initiated the physical confrontation and then escalated it with deadly force. The defense maintained that Barriga-Vargas acted in self-defense, claiming he fired his weapon because he was afraid Salvador was trying to take his gun during a struggle.

In April 2026, after deliberating for eight hours, a Yakima County jury rejected the self-defense claim and found Israel Barriga-Vargas guilty of second-degree murder. The jury also found that he had used a firearm during the crime, a special verdict that added a mandatory five-year enhancement to his sentence. The following month, in May 2026, a Superior Court judge sentenced Barriga-Vargas to 15 years in prison.