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Pasco Man Killed By Police Not Armed With Gun Or Knife

Anna King
/
Northwest News Network
Ken Lattin with the Kennewick Police Department takes questions during a Friday press conference.

When he was shot dead by police officers in Pasco, Washington, Antonio Zambrano-Montes did not have a gun or knife, investigators said at a press conference on Friday.

Zambrano-Montes had been throwing rocks at a busy intersection, witnesses say, when he was shot to death by Pasco police Tuesday night. 

The Kennewick Police Department is investigating.

"Antonio Zambrano-Montes was not armed with a gun or knife," said Sergeant Ken Lattin, of the Kennewick police. "We know, we all know, based on the videos we’ve watched on social media that he did at one point at least have a rock in his hand and threw that rock. The investigation continues on whether he was armed with a rock at the time that he was shot"

Lattin says 15 Kennewick investigators are on the case. They are taking videotaped testimony from more than 40 witnesses who have come forward so far.

The shooting has raised questions from Pasco residents about whether Zambrano-Montes could have been subdued by less lethal means.

The family of Zambrano-Montes  is asking for no violence at a prayer vigil in Pasco Friday evening , and at a march scheduled for Saturday. 

Anna King calls Richland, Washington home and loves unearthing great stories about people in the Northwest. She reports for the Northwest News Network from a studio at Washington State University, Tri-Cities. She covers the Mid-Columbia region, from nuclear reactors to Mexican rodeos.