Suspect in Sunnyside restaurant shooting will argue self-defense

A 28-year-old man charged with attempted murder in the shooting of two men outside a Sunnyside restaurant last year will argue that he was defending himself and his brother when he opened fire, his attorney said Wednesday.

Jurors heard opening arguments Wednesday afternoon in the trial of Alberto Irigoyen Murillo. The Auburn, Wash., man also faces a drive-by shooting charge in the June 10, 2007, incident at the Acapulco Restaurant in Sunnyside.

One of the men was shot in the head but survived after treatment at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. The first round fired at the second man went through his cowboy hat, prosecutors said; the second hit his arm or shoulder.

Irigoyen was arrested last August when border agents found him trying to crawl across the security fence from Mexico to the United States. He remains under an immigration hold at the Yakima County jail.

Erika Soublet, the deputy prosecutor handling the case in Yakima County Superior Court, told the jury that Irigoyen and an unidentified man went to the restaurant. Another group that included the two victims soon entered and sat down.

The two sides, who had never met, soon argued, perhaps over the type of music playing on the jukebox.

Restaurant staff asked both groups to leave, but tried to hold back Irigoyen and his companion, identified by defense attorney Jeff West as the suspect's brother.

Soublet said the companion went out to the parking lot, where the argument continued.

Irigoyen exited the restaurant and got a pistol from under the hood of his Chevrolet Suburban, Soublet said. He shot both victims and then fled in the Suburban, which a Grandview officer found abandoned on the side of the road near an orchard.

Although terrified by the events unfolding in front of her, one of the restaurant workers managed to call 9-1-1 and then took down the license plate number on the Suburban, Soublet said.

West, a county public defender, argued that Irigoyen tried to stay out of the dispute -- which he said grew from the victims' dislike of the brothers' choice of jukebox music from the Tijuana, Mexico, area.

But when Irigoyen went outside to check on the situation, he saw that one of the men was slashing at his brother's face with a knife.

Irigoyen stopped firing once both men went down, West said. Without addressing his client's attempt to re-enter the country, West said Irigoyen fled because he feared retribution.

He said both shooting victims had been drinking for several hours; the man shot in the arm was kept longer in the hospital only because his heart was acting up due to cocaine use. Soublet said the defendant and his companion also had some beer while at the restaurant.

West said one of the victims patted his pocket as if he had a weapon before saying that he would continue the argument in the parking lot.

Police have not recovered the firearm used in the shooting, but they said they found evidence of only one pistol -- a 10mm semiautomatic -- being used at the scene.

Irigoyen's self-defense argument would allow him to recover defense fees and possibly other costs if the jury acquits him.

* Mark Morey can be reached at 577-7671 or mmorey@yakimaherald.com.

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