In a tragic conclusion to a harrowing series of events, Elias Huizar, a 40-year-old former Yakima Police Department officer and suspect in two homicides, died following a high-speed police chase. Oregon State Police Capt. Kyle Kennedy confirmed during a Press conference that Huizar succumbed to a self-inflicted gunshot wound after his vehicle crashed during a chase on Tuesday, April 23.
The dramatic chase began when the Oregon State Patrol spotted Huizar’s vehicle heading south on Interstate 5 near Eugene, Oregon, around 3 p.m. local time. Authorities quickly began a chase that ended abruptly when Huizar’s car collided with a commercial vehicle that was stopped on the interstate due to another unrelated accident. According to the West Richland Police Department, after the crash, Huizar fatally shot himself.
In the midst of this heartbreaking incident, there was a small ray of hope. Román Santos, a 1-year-old boy who was in the car with Huizar at the time of the chase, was found unharmed. OSP soldiers safely detained him and Captain Kennedy then reassured the public during the Press conference that the child was “fine.”
Captain Kennedy reflected on the tense events of the day and expressed relief and gratitude for the boy’s safe recovery. “All day we have thought about how to rescue this young man from a very, very dangerous situation, and we are grateful for the outcome that occurred,” he said.
The backdrop for this dramatic chase was a violent episode that unfolded the previous day at William Wiley Elementary School in West Richland, Washington. In at approximately 3:23 pm local time On April 22, police responded to a school shooting where they found an adult female dead at the scene. The West Richland Police Department immediately launched an investigation, treated the shooting as an isolated incident and quickly identified Huizar as a person of interest who had fled the scene.
Following the issuance of an Amber Alert by the Washington State Patrol on X (formerly known as Twitter), authorities continued the search for Huizar. During this time, while serving a search warrant at Huizar’s residence, detectives and cooperating agencies discovered a second crime scene. They found a second homicide victim inside the home. Details about the victim’s identity were initially withheld, except to confirm that it was not Huizar but a known associate of his.
The sequence of events leading up to the final confrontation on Interstate 5 was marked by rapid events and coordination between various law enforcement agencies. The tragic results highlight the complex and often dangerous nature of managing such critical incidents, involving both active crime scenes and high-risk chases. The incidents left a community in mourning and a host of unanswered questions about the motives and circumstances that led to such a drastic series of actions by a former law enforcement officer.
