Vancouver police arrested a 20-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy who they say exchanged gunfire Tuesday afternoon in central Vancouver, leaving the boy with a gunshot wound not considered life threatening.
The man, identified by police as Fnj Kenneth, is scheduled to make a first court appearance this afternoon in Clark County Superior Court. He is facing allegations of first-degree assault and drive-by shooting.
Court records identify the boy who was wounded as Herber Romero-Lara. He appeared this morning in Clark County Juvenile Court on allegations of unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful discharge of a firearm.
Police received multiple 911 calls about 4 p.m. Tuesday reporting gunshots heard in the area of East Fourth Plain Boulevard and Fort Vancouver Way.
Officers arrived to find Romero-Lara inside the nearby Burgerville restaurant, 2200 E. Fourth Plain Blvd., with a gunshot wound to the back. Police recovered a firearm in the corner, according to court records.
Investigators searched the area but determined the shooting suspect had driven away, according to a Vancouver police news release.
Police could be heard on emergency radio traffic, monitored by The Columbian, saying they recovered multiple shell casings north of McDonald’s, 2110 E. Fourth Plain Blvd.
Romero-Lara said he was at the McDonald’s with a friend. When they walked out, a man wearing a red shirt approached them and said, “What’s up with it?” Romero-Lara said he responded similarly. That’s when another man wearing “red bandana-style pants” pulled out a gun and started firing at him, according to court records.
Romero-Lara said he ran, drew his own P80 handgun and returned fire with two or three rounds, before entering Burgerville, court records state.
When asked where he got the gun, described in court records as a “ghost gun,” he reportedly told police he found it in Portland.
At 7:45 p.m. Tuesday, detectives with Vancouver police’s Crime Prevention Unit and the Pacific Northwest Violent Offender Task Force found the shooting suspect’s vehicle and located Kenneth, the police department said.
He was booked into the Clark County Jail. The police department said additional charges are pending.
Romero-Lara was ordered to remain in juvenile detention and is scheduled to be arraigned March 14, court records show.
Officers shut down Fort Vancouver Way shortly before 4:30 p.m. for the shooting investigation and reopened it about an hour later.
Police ask anyone with information who has not spoken to officers to contact the department. The agency’s Major Crime Unit is continuing to investigate.
