West Richland Fatal Shooting Suspect Has Long, Controversial Past

According to reports, West Richland shooting suspect Elias Huizar, who as of Tuesday was the subject of a multi-state Amber Alert search because of his 1-year-old son, has had a controversial past.

   Former Richland School District worker also a former Yakima Cop

According to information published by Tumbleweird, based on documents from Yakima PD, Richland School District, and numerous other official sources, Huizar's troubled past goes back at least 14 years.

He was arrested twice in 2008 while attending Dickenson State in North Dakota as a nationally-ranked collegiate wrestler, once for threatening with a knife and the other related to criminal trespassing.

Fast forward to 2013, when after completing basic academy training he was sworn in as a Yakima Police Department officer on November 13th, 2014 after being hired in July of the previous year.

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After he was named as a school resource officer for Washington Hills Middle School in 2018, he allegedly initiated inappropriate relationships with two minor girls from the school. However, in response to the allegations, a sex crime investigation via the WA State Attorney General's Office turned up "zero" evidence.

 In the fall of 2019, Huizar was transferred to another school in the District. After another series of incidents, he was finally separated from the Yakima PD in February of 2022.

   Huizar goes to work at Richland School District

He applied to work in the District in August of 2021, because he had not formally been accused of a crime (none filed despite allegations) nothing turned up on his background check. He was hired by RSD in February of 2022 and served a variety of roles.  Then on February 3rd of this year, he was arrested for allegedly raping two minors, one of them a 13-year-old girl he was accused of doing the same to in 2019.

That leads us up to this week, and Monday, when law enforcement confirmed Huizar is the suspect in the fatal shooting of his ex-wife on the grounds of Wiley Elementary in West Richland, and the fatal shooting of his girlfriend at a residence.  West Richland Police reported early Tuesday he was reportedly spotted in the Portland area, possibly driving a dark or black sedan. The manhunt continues for him and his one-year-old son.

 Click here for more details about this complicated, shocking story.