YAKIMA — A Sunnyside man accused of shooting his cousin with a shotgun and stealing his car will be arraigned in September.
Abraham Carrasco, 31, was originally scheduled to be arraigned on charges of first-degree assault, second-degree motor vehicle theft and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm Aug. 26, but Yakima County Superior Court Judge Richard Bartheld rescheduled the hearing to Sept. 12 due to a shortage of public defenders.
The theft and assault charges carry domestic violence enhancements, and the firearms charge is based on Carrasco’s prior convictions for second-degree burglary, theft of a motor vehicle, second-degree malicious mischief and second-degree taking a motor vehicle without permission.
At the time of the incident, Carrasco was on pretrial release awaiting trial on charges of possessing a stolen motor vehicle, second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm and possessing motor vehicle theft tools.
Yakima County sheriff’s deputies were called to a home in the 700 block of Rouse Road Aug. 9 for a shooting and found a man with shotgun pellet wounds to his right shoulder, arm, side, buttock and leg, according to a probable cause affidavit. Deputies counted at least 96 pellet wounds on the man.
The man said he picked up Carrasco at 1 p.m. that day to run errands, and Carrasco was upset about issues he had with his girlfriend, the affidavit said. Carrasco, the man told deputies, wanted to go back to the house on Rouse Road, but became upset when he didn’t recognize the route the man was taking, and broke the man’s glass marijuana pipe by throwing it at the dashboard.
Back at the house, the man was cleaning up the broken glass while Carrasco continued to complain about his girlfriend and told his cousin to leave, the affidavit said. When the man turned to leave, he said Carrasco shot him from behind with a shotgun.
After he was shot, the man ran to the house and held the door shut to keep Carrasco out. Carrasco then left in the man’s car, the affidavit said.
Deputies found a sawed-off 12-gauge Winchester shotgun and a shell casing, the affidavit said.
At an Aug. 12 preliminary appearance hearing, Bartheld ordered Carrasco held in lieu of $200,000 bail.
