Arrest Made in Mattawa Triple Murder; Suspect Also Linked to Pasco Robberies

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By Chelsea Kopta

Summary

A wanted killer may also be the man who's been terrorizing clerks at local convenience stores. Local police are all comparing notes on a man arrested Tuesday night.

Story Published: Dec 16, 2009 at 6:39 PM PST

SUNNYSIDE, WA -- A wanted killer may also be the man who's been terrorizing clerks at local convenience stores.

J. Guadalupe Martinez-Lopez late Wednesday night in Sunnyside along with a handful of other people at a restaurant in the Lower Valley. Investigators told Action News he's suspected of two robberies in the valley, three murders in Mattawa and possibly even a string of armed robberies in Pasco.

Sunnyside police confirmed with Action News Wednesday that they were given information that at least one person involved in Grant County's homicide may be in the Sunnyside area. While investigating that tip, a robbery was reported at 8:55 p.m. at a convenience store in the 200 block of the Yakima Valley Highway, according to Sunnyside Police.

The group was arrested a short time later at a Mexican restaurant in the 400 block of the Yakima Valley Highway. Various departments helped including Granger and Grandview police, the Yakima County Sheriff's Office and the Washington State Patrol.

Two days earlier, Grant County investigators suspect Martinez-Lopez gunned down two men in a Mattawa home and shot a third man in the street a few miles away. All were Latinos in their 20s. The victims names have not been released.

Late Wednesday, Pasco Police said they also believed Martinez-Lopez might be the man connected to a string of armed robberies at Pasco convenience stores in early December too.

Martinez-Lopez is sitting in jail while police sort out all he'll be charged with.