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Toppenish: Home shot and firebombed multiple times

August 26th, 2008, incident report by jbtaylor

  • May 10 2008
  • 0
  • 0
  • 600 block of East First Avenue
  • Toppenish
  • Washington
  • 98948

DANGEROUS
Rod Antone. Yakima Herald - Republic. Yakima, Wash.: May 18, 2008. pg. C.1

(Copyright (c) 2008 Yakima Herald-Republic)

Cassy Frayle said she moved her boys out of Yakima a week ago to give her sons a new start away from the gangs in the city, but instead ended up in a worse place -- Toppenish.

Since moving into their rental home in the 600 block of East First Avenue on May 10, the Frayle house has been hit by more than a half-dozen bullets and firebombed with a Molotov cocktail.

Frayle blames local authorities at least in part for the violence, saying the Toppenish Police Department suffers from a bunker mentality that only encourages gang violence.

"Basically, they told us to move out of town," she said, adding "If you're not a gangbanger, then don't live here."

Toppenish police attribute the violence to the fact that Frayle's boys have an affiliation with the red Norteos gangs in Yakima and that Toppenish is mostly dominated by the blue Sureos gangs. However, Sgt. Adam Diaz said he was not aware of any officer actually asking the family to leave town.

"She might have interpreted it that way, but no officer has said that, at least not to my knowledge," Diaz said. "The bottom line is that anyone should be able to live anywhere they want. We're trying to be proactive about this, but we can't have an officer sit there on that street 24 hours a day."

The house was shot at on the first day the family moved in. Police found three bullet holes in the living room window and recovered a bullet in a speaker box.

Then, in the early morning hours on Wednesday, someone fired four shots, hitting the south wall of the home. A Molotov cocktail was also tossed at the side of the house, setting some brush on fire.

Frayle said she heard more shots Thursday night and did not even bother to call police. In what may or may not be a related incident, a neighbor said someone threw a Molotov cocktail at his house the same night.

"There's shootings all the time on this street, two or three over the last five days," said Gilbert Zuniga, whose house was the target of the Molotov cocktail Thursday. "I hear gunshots every night."

Sgt. Joe Salinas of the Yakima Police Gang Enforcement Team said Frayle and her oldest son, who is 17, are well known to police. Salinas said Frayle's son may not be an actual gang member but he associated with Norteos in Yakima and would often invite them to the home where they lived on East D Street while his mother was at work.

Frayle acknowledges that her son knew a lot of gang members but has tried to stay away from his old friends for more than a year.

Salinas said Frayle was very cooperative with Yakima police and told them that if officers ever saw gang members on her property while she was at work, they should kick them off. He said he understands her reason for moving out of town, but added that she might have made the situation worse by moving to Toppenish.

"I applaud her efforts, but she put them right in the middle of the Sureos," Salinas said. "Basically they're getting hit hard because (Sureos) want to send a message that they are not welcome there."

Frayle has gotten the message loud and clear and is moving out this weekend, relocating her family to another of her landlord's properties that she described as "out in the country."

But she feels strongly that what happened in Toppenish is a sad commentary about the state of affairs there. Especially when she went there to start over.

"The attitude there in Toppenish is that police department believes that gangs rule," she said. "At least in Yakima they try to do something about it. I never would have moved here if I knew it was going to be like this."

Diaz said Toppenish police are doing all they can within their resources. As for the Frayles moving out of the neighborhood, he said they should do whatever they think is best.

"Bullets are being shot at that house and they have to make a decision," he said. "I just don't want anyone getting shot or killed."

Meanwhile, the shootings and the firebombing of the rental house on East First Avenue remain under investigation. Diaz asked that anyone with information call the Toppenish Police Department at 865-4355.

Tips may also be made anonymously to Yakima County CrimeStoppers at 248-9980.