3 Tri-Cities Homicides in Two Days: Are They Connected?

Now another suspicious death has launched a 3rd homicide investigation in only 2 days which begs the question...are they connected?

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3 Homicides in Tri-Cities, Washington Over the Weekend

After finding another suspicious death this morning outside of Pasco, there have been 3 homicides over the last 2 days in the Tri-Cities area. Sunday morning Franklin County Sheriff's found a deceased man inside a car at the corner of Taylor Flats Road and Selph Landing. Police were at the scene and had a car that was parked next to a large haybale quarantined off with police tape. Early that same morning, police announced they were investigating the death as a homicide. The area was closed while police conduct their investigation.

Victim #1:Man Found in the Columbia River Near the Blue Bridge

The first death over the weekend was a man found floating in the Columbia River around noon last Friday. Later the man was identified as 46-year-old Joaquin Gutierrez-Velasquez and police stated that they were opening an investigation. As of now, police say that they have no evidence of foul play but are looking for anyone with information about the case. Of course, that statement was made before two more homicides in as many days.

Victim #2: Man Shot in Kennewick Neighborhood

Later on Friday night August 5th, Kennewick Police were called to a home on the corner of West 6th Avenue and South Conway Street after neighbors heard a single gunshot. After police arrived, they found a man that had been shot in the arm and needed medical attention. Officers treated the man at the scene and transported him to the hospital but the man died of his wound. The next of kin has not been contacted, so the victim's name is still not released. The next morning, Regional SWAT served a search warrant at the 2200 block of W. 4th Ave, a location believed to be connected to the shooting. No details have been released about the information gathered in the search warrant.

Are These 3 Homicides Connected?

The suspicious nature of all 3 in correlation with the small amount of time in between the deaths leads to the question...are they connected? I saw the question asked multiple times in different social media posts about the stories. We still do not even know the names of all the victims but the authorities do. You have to know that all the police agencies involved are combining knowledge to answer that very question. It is still too early to tell for sure with not much information released about all the cases involved but it looks very suspicious.