Yakima County jury finds man guilty in 2017 shooting

YAKIMA — A Yakima County Superior Court jury has found a Wapato gang member guilty of shooting a woman in 2017, and trying to arrange the killing of one of the witnesses two years later.

Jurors concluded their deliberations at 1 p.m. Thursday, after more than 6½ hours of deliberations over two days.

Michael Joseph Allred, 41, was charged with shooting a woman outside her home on Jan. 22, 2017. Prosecutors said Allred fired a single shot that grazed a man across the stomach and seriously injured the woman.

In 2019, Yakima County jail officers found a letter reportedly written by Allred addressed to a fellow gang member asking him to burn down the home of a Wapato woman he said was the “star witness” against him, the Yakima Herald-Republic reported.

He was found guilty of four counts of first-degree assault and one count each of unlawful firearms possession, attempted first-degree murder, attempted first-degree arson, witness tampering and felony harassment.

Jurors also found that Allred used a firearm in each of the assault counts, which adds an additional five years on a sentence for each finding.

Allred’s attorney, John Doherty, said his client will appeal. He described the verdict as “a tough one.”