On Thursday, June 24th at about 7:45 pm, Yakima police responded to the 200 block of East N Street in response to a 9-1-1 call from a female resident who reported there was a burglar in her daughter’s bedroom.
The female said her boyfriend had armed himself with a pistol and was confronting the burglar inside the home. Yelling was heard by the 9-1-1 calltaker. The calltaker then heard the sound of gunshots
Police arrived and found the boyfriend waiting outside along with the female resident and her 6 children, ages 7 to 14 years old.
Inside the residence, police found 38-year-old Joe Mendoza dead from multiple gunshots to his chest.
Yakima Police Department Majors Crimes Unit detectives from the Criminal Investigations Division are interviewing the six children and two adults who were in the residence just prior to the shooting. They are also in contact with Yakima County Prosecutor Joe Brusic to determine the appropriate charges, if any, for the boyfriend, who fired the shots.
“As we later learned, Mendoza was a neighbor, who lived next to the female and her boyfriend,” Yakima Police Captain Jay Seely said.