18-Year-Old Gets 15 Months For Gunfire, Graffiti At School

An 18-year-old East Wenatchee man will spend 15 months in prison after pleading guilty to charges related to spraying graffiti and shooting a gun at Lee Elementary School. 

Enrique Torres was given a plea deal reducing charges in Douglas County Superior Court to unlawful possession of a firearm and malicious mischief. 

Prosecutors dropped a charge that he possessed an illegal firearm in the form of a fully-automatic weapon  

East Wenatchee Police identified Torres as one of two people seen on surveillance video spraying gang graffiti and firing a gun at Lee Elementary in May. 

Officers say the vandalism occurred overnight on the morning of May 14 as the graffiti was discovered later that day on the school property in East Wenatchee. A number of portable classrooms - as well as a fence abutting the school - were covered with gang-related graffiti. There were also reports of gunfire that night. 

Police were able to make out two suspects on school surveillance footage. The suspects were observed spraying graffiti and shooting a firearm. 

Officers say video evidence led them to a nearby house in the 1300 block of Clements Circle where the suspects appeared to exit prior to the incident. The residence was linked to Torres. 

The following Friday (May 17), police and SWAT officers conducted a search warrant on the residence. Neither suspect was present. But officers found a fully automatic pistol and graffiti and gang paraphernalia. 

Then on May 31, members of the Columbia River Drug Taskforce were given a tip that Torres was at an apartment in the 1000 block of N Devon Ave. He was arrested there without incident. 

Douglas County Superior Court Judge Brian Huber scheduled a hearing for next Thursday on whether he'll pay restitution for damages caused.