Suspect in shooting outside Yakima pizza restaurant charged with second-degree murder | Crime & Courts

A Yakima gang member has been charged with second-degree murder in connection with a shooting outside a pizza restaurant on West Nob Hill Boulevard.

Yakima County prosecutors also charged Angel Cristo Ayala, 21, with five counts of second-degree assault, one count each for the people in the Jeep of Landynn Lewis, 17, during the June 24 shooting.

He is being held in the Yakima County Jail on $250,000 bail.

Yakima police were called to Tony's Big Cheese Pizza, 2204 W. Nob Hill Blvd., around 7:11 p.m. June 24 for shots fired in the parking lot. Officers found Ayala at the scene and a Jeep that had crashed into a tree. Lewis was shot in the head and initially taken to MultiCare Yakima Memorial Hospital before being transferred to Seattle Hospital, where he died the next day.

An autopsy determined he died of a gunshot wound, and the King County medical examiner ruled the cause of death a homicide.

Five other people in the Jeep were slightly injured by what police described as “shrapnel” from the shooting, according to a probable cause statement filed in Yakima County Superior Court.

The Jeep passengers told police they had stopped at Tony's to buy pizza when they saw Ayala and someone in a Ford Mustang parked nearby staring menacingly at them as they drove by, according to the affidavit. One of them said Ayala appeared to be displaying gang signs as they drove by.

They said Lewis walked toward Ayala and the other man as they walked in the parking lot, and Ayala opened fire. The passengers ducked when the shooting began, shattering the driver's side rear window.

Another witness said there were no signs of confrontation or gang signs during the incident, but saw Lewis walking toward the men from the Mustang, according to the affidavit.

The man who accompanied Ayala said he saw the Jeep heading toward them and thought it was going to hit them. He jumped onto the sidewalk and Ayala opened fire on the Jeep, according to the affidavit.

Security camera footage showed the Jeep driving toward Ayala, who swerved. As the Jeep turned north, Ayala could be seen pointing a gun at the Jeep, according to the affidavit.

Police found eight 10mm shell casings in the parking lot and took Ayala's 10mm Glock pistol.

Ayala, who was issued a concealed-carry permit by the Yakima County Sheriff's Office, told police that Lewis was making “hand signals” but he did not recognize them as gang signs, and that Lewis walked toward him, prompting him to shoot, the affidavit said.

During the preliminary hearing, Yakima County Superior Court Judge Richard Bartheld said there was probable cause to detain Ayala because evidence suggested Ayala fired at Lewis' Jeep after his death, even though he was no longer in danger.

Lewis' death is the seventh homicide in the city this year, and the 11th in the county.