2nd suspect connected to Richland shooting brought back in Benton County
The 29-year-old man is back in Benton County after fleeing from a Richland homicide scene earlier this year.
Michael T. Reep was returned to the Tri-Cities after being arrested in Las Vegas two weeks after the Jan. 26 shooting and after slamming into two Richland police cars as he fled, say investigators.
He is being held in lieu of $1.1 million bail on two counts of illegally possessing a gun, three counts of hit-and-run and driving with a suspended license.
Reep pleaded innocent Wednesday to the charges in his first appearance in Benton County Superior Court.
He also appeared on an outstanding 2022 warrant connected to illegally possessing a gun.
His trials were scheduled for May 15.
Reep has been wanted since two people were shot and wounded and another man was found dead at a home where he lived.
His girlfriend, Lara Garcia, 27, is accused of wounding Dustin P. Nelson, 37, and Thomascine McEachern, 25, during a confrontation at the home. She then fled with Reep, said police.
When officers arrived to investigate the shooting, they found Jarrod Yockey, 51, dead inside the house.
Garcia was caught two days later, and officers tracked Reep to a home about six days after the shooting. The home was surrounded but he opened the garage door and back out in a car, clipping two patrol cars.
Since Reep wasn’t wanted for a violent crime, officers said Washington state law didn’t allow them to chase him.
The U.S. Marshals Pacific Southwest Regional Fugitive Task Force worked with the Las Vegas Metro Police to find and arrest Reep.
He was booked into the Clark County jail and extradited to Washington, arriving on Tuesday morning.
Deadly shooting
Two versions of the events have come out in court records since the shooting. One account is that Nelson, Yockey and McEachern went to the home to get some items they claim had been stolen.
Yockey ended up fighting with the homeowner’s son and then Garcia allegedly opened fire, grazing Nelson’s arm, and then shooting him in the back as he tried to open the front door. She also allegedly wounded the other woman.
Nelson said he didn’t see who shot Yockey.
However, the homeowner’s son claims the men came to the door and asked for a phone charger. His roommate Reep talked with them through the window but didn’t want them inside. But the homeowner’s son let in when they pounded on a door.
He claims Yockey attacked him and that Nelson and the other woman starting taking things from the garage. He said he saw Reep with a gun but did not see who shot Yockey in the face.
