Brother, sister arrested in Toppenish gang slayings

A shooting suspect's sister faces a first court appearance this afternoon in connection with the deaths of two gang members in Toppenish last week.

Her brother, meanwhile, is being held on $5 million bail on suspicion of two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of first-degree assault.

The man's sister, a 21-year-old Wapato woman, will be transferred from Toppenish to the Yakima County jail on the same charges, Toppenish police said Monday.

The victims who were killed were 17-year-old Estevan Silva Jr. and 20-year-old Israel Diaz.

The male suspect, a 20-year-old man from Buena, had been in custody since being arrested Friday for a misdemeanor driving charge. He was officially arrested in the murder case early Monday after investigators pieced together witness accounts.

A police report said the male suspect claimed he fired at one of the victims because he was holding a rock.

Toppenish police Sgt. Paul Logan said none of the other statements taken in the case substantiates that version of the events, which took place about 10:20 p.m. Thursday.

Logan said the suspects apparently spotted the victims, recognized them as gang rivals and took a route that would put them on the same path.

The surviving victims -- a 15-year-old boy and a 20-year-old man -- said they were using a common shortcut to walk across railroad property off the 10 block of Buena Way, saving themselves three or four blocks on the way home, Logan said.

Instead, they were approached by a small car. The passenger, identified as the male suspect, asked what they represented, a common callout between gang rivals.

After an exchange of gang names, the male suspect allegedly opened fire with a .22-caliber pistol, firing what police counted as 11 shots.

One small bullet struck each victim. Diaz was hit in the heart, Silva in the head, authorities said.

The 15-year-old boy and 20-year-old man were not hurt.

Logan said the victims' families and other gang members provided critical information to investigators, an unusual degree of cooperation given that many gang-related homicides are likely to inspire silence and retaliation among those involved.

Logan said the rival gangs actually fly the same colors, but that's not enough for them to stop killing each other.

It's been the same in other gang-related homicides across the Yakima Valley, where motives for hitting the trigger may range from a minor misunderstanding to murder.

"They don't get along," Logan said about the intra-gang disputes. "It just depends on the day."

The homicides were the seventh and eighth reported this year in Yakima County.

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