NEWS
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2020
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
Two killed in shooting outside Hermiston
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
An altercation between
four males resulted in the
shooting death of two of
them and a gunshot wound
to a third, according to Sher-
iff Terry Rowan.
Rowan said at 8:18 p.m.
on Thursday, Oct. 29, dis-
patch received a call from
Alejandro Madrigal of
Umatilla stating that he
and his father, Jaime Mad-
rigal, had been in an alter-
cation with Raymond Rios
and Hugo Madrigal-Leon on
Sagebrush Road near Ben-
sel Road outside Hermis-
ton. According to Rowan,
Alejandro said Jaime had
been shot and that Alejan-
dro had shot Rios and Mad-
rigal-Leon in self-defense.
Law enforcement arrived
to fi nd Raymond Ryan
Rios, 18, and Hugo Madri-
gal-Leon, 19, both of Herm-
iston, deceased. Rowan
said Jaime was treated at
the hospital for a gunshot
wound, and Alejandro had
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald
A stop sign marks the intersection of Sagebrush Road and
Bensel Road near Hermiston on Friday, Oct. 30, 2020.
some injuries stemming
from the initial altercation.
They cooperated with law
enforcement.
He said Umatilla County
Sheriff’s Offi ce, Umatilla
Morrow Major Crime Team,
the Oregon State Police
Forensics Lab and Umatilla
County District Attorney
were still investigating and
“sorting things out.”
He said at this time he
was not aware of whether
the shooting had any con-
nections to other shooting
incidents earlier in the year.
He also said it is believed
that the four named above
were the only ones involved
in the incident, which is
why USCO’s fi rst release of
information on the morning
of Friday, Oct. 30, stated,
“At this time, there is no rea-
son to believe there is any
outstanding danger to the
community.”
The incident represented
the fourth and fi fth possible
homicide deaths in or just
outside of Hermiston this
year. Law enforcement has
also reported at least four
drive-by shootings of vehi-
cles or homes where no one
was injured, and in August a
man was seriously injured in
a shooting in the parking lot
of the Hermiston Safeway.
Hermiston Police Chief
Jason Edmiston said the
pandemic has caused such
unusual circumstances this
year that it is hard to con-
sider crime statistics from
2020 and previous years
an “apples to apples” com-
parison. Overall, however,
reported crime in Hermiston
for the fi rst three quarters of
2020 has dropped by 32%
compared with the same
period in 2019, and violent
crime is down 23%, accord-
ing to records Edmiston pro-
vided the East Oregonian.
But the increase in shooting
incidents in the area com-
pared to recent years is an
unfortunate, serious devel-
opment, he said.
The third-quarter crime
report shows either one or
zero homicides or attempted
homicides each year in Herm-
iston from 2011 to 2019. FBI
data going back even further
shows the same trend of one
or zero homicides per year
reported by HPD going back
to 2009. FBI statistics show
Umatilla County Sheriff’s
Offi ce reported fi ve homi-
cides in its jurisdiction in
2016, and between zero and
two all other years between
2009 and 2019.
Edmiston referred ques-
tions about the specifi c
details of the Oct. 29 shoot-
ing to the sheriff’s offi ce,
but in answer to a question
about whether the shooting
appeared to be connected to
any other shooting incidents
in the Hermiston area this
year, he did say that when
more information is released
there might “be some dots
that could be connected.”
He said HPD continues
to investigate major crimes
from earlier in 2020. In
the case of Jordan Delano
Crandall, who was found
deceased with a gunshot
wound outside of Hermis-
ton on March 18, he said
law enforcement is getting
closer to being able to pro-
vide “some resolution.” In
the case of Jesus Eli Lopez,
who was found deceased of
a gunshot wound in Herm-
iston on June 9, Edmiston
said they are also making
headway working with law
enforcement in another state
in regards to a suspect.
While Rowan said he did
not know for sure whether
either Rios or Madri-
gal-Leon were students at
Hermiston School District,
the district sent out a news
release on Friday afternoon
stating it had learned of the
death of a senior at Hermis-
ton High School and a recent
graduate of the school. The
district stated that a “virtual
safe room” had been set up
and counselors were avail-
able to speak to students
and staff who were strug-
gling with the news.
Local schools stay closed despite loosening rules
By ANTONIO SIERRA
and ALEX CASTLE
STAFF WRITERS
When Gov. Kate Brown
announced new public
health standards for schools
to reopen, it allowed dozens
of schools across rural Ore-
gon to reopen.
But for most schools in
Umatilla County, it won’t
mean much in the short
term, as Umatilla County
still falls well short of the
new, less-rigorous goal.
Under the new metrics,
schools’ reopening status
will now be evaluated over
two-week intervals for case
rates per 100,000 and test
positivity rate, and desig-
nated into one of four zones.
In the green zone, all
schools can reopen to stu-
dents of all ages when a
county records a case rate
of 50 or fewer cases per
100,000 people and a test
positivity rate below 5%.
In the yellow zone, ele-
mentary school students
can return for some in-per-
son instruction in a hybrid
model when a county
records a case rate of 100
or fewer cases per 100,000
people and a test positivity
rate below 8%.
The orange zone is for
counties to transition into
preparing for in-person
instruction when they’ve
recorded 200 or fewer cases
per 100,000 and a test posi-
tivity rate below 10%.
When counties record
rates above those fi gures,
they’ll be in the red zone
where no in-person instruc-
tion is permitted.
Umatilla County case
numbers have been rising
steadily in October. From
Oct. 18-31, the Oregon
Health Authority reported
223 new cases of the virus,
which amounts to 274.8
cases per 100,000 people.
The county’s test positivity
rate was 17% during those
two weeks.
In order to reach the
orange zone, Umatilla
County would need to report
fewer than 162 cases over a
two-week stretch, To reach
the yellow zone, that num-
ber would need to drop
below roughly 122 new
cases over two weeks, and
then even further to roughly
fewer than 60 cases to reach
the green zone.
Umatilla County Public
Health Director Joe Fiumara
has mixed feelings about the
new metrics but said Nov. 2
that he felt they were “a step
in the right direction.”
“On one hand, it’s not
really impacting us because
we’re still quite a ways away
from meeting the metrics to
get kids back in school on
a regular basis,” he said on
Nov. 2. “On the other hand,
I do like the direction they
went with this.”
Though the state also
dropped
the
previous
requirement that schools
remain closed unless the
statewide test positivity rate
also dropped below 5% for
three consecutive weeks,
Fiumara is concerned that
the metric will continue to
keep local schools closed.
“The same issues that
went into it at the state level
still apply at the county
level, and so I’m still hope-
ful that eventually it will go
away,” he said.
While online teach-
ing will still be the primary
method of educating chil-
dren in Umatilla County for
the foreseeable future, many
local districts are taking
advantage of an exception
that allows them to bring in
small groups of students for
in-person instruction for a
few hours each week.
The new set of rules
further softened the rules
around small-group learn-
ing, bumping up the max-
imum cohort size from 10
to 20 students and lifting
the cap on the maximum
number of students that can
occupy a building.
S
E
N
A
L
T
R
E
S
E
D
N
U
F
Y
L
I
FAM NTER
CE
Hermiston Superinten-
dent Tricia Mooney said the
district is studying the new
regulations to see if it should
alter its small-group pro-
gram, but there are logistical
hurdles to consider like stu-
dent transportation.
InterMountain Education
Service District Superinten-
dent Mark Mulvihill said
local districts unsuccessfully
lobbied to increase the max-
imum number of in-person
hours allowable under the
small group exception, but
overall, he was happy with
the new rules.
The
administrators
agreed the new reopen-
ing metrics are attainable,
but when they’ll meet them
will be reliant on their com-
munities’ ability to slow the
spread.
WE ARE SAFE,
SANITIZED AND
READY TO ROLL!
RESERVATIONS FOR LANES ARE HIGHLY
RECOMMENDED, DUE TO LIMITED LANE
AVAILABILITY. (COVID GUIDELINES)
SUNDAYS ALL DAY:
$20 per hour per lane ($1 shoe rental)
MONDAY-THURSDAY 11AM-9PM & FRIDAYS TILL 5PM:
$20 per hour per lane ($2.99 shoe rental)
FRIDAYS 5PM -9PM AND ALL DAY SATURDAYS;
$30 per hour ($1 shoe rental)
PRIME FRIDAYS 4PM-8PM;
Oven roasted garlic stuffed prime rib every Friday
night (takeout or dine in) $22. Meal includes 10oz.
cut of prime rib, green salad, mashed potatoes &
gravy, veggie, Texas toast and dessert.
CAR TROUBLE?
LOST YOUR LICENSE?
DON’T WORRY!
WE GOT YOU COVERED!
A WORC taxi will get you to and from your job
anywhere in western Umatilla County.
Anyone who comes in through the end of December,
can get four FREE punch cards,
which equals 40 one-way rides to/from work.
Visit https://hermiston.or.us/public-transit
to find out how to sign up, and how WORC and the HART
bus service work together to connect Hermiston.
DAILY PIZZA SPECIAL
Large pizza & 2 Ltr. Pepsi product $20*
(takeout only) *excluding taco
11am-9pm daily.
1545 N. First Street | Hermiston, OR. 97838
(541).567.6364 | www.BowlDesertLanes.com