Sunnyside woman shoots burglary suspect on her property

David Mann by David Mann

SUNNYSIDE, Wash. — A Sunnyside woman shot a burglary suspect on her property on Friday night, Aug. 16.

Yakima County deputies first responded to the woman’s home on South Lester Street at about 9 a.m. that day for a report of a burglary.

The woman told police someone used bolt cutters to remove a lock from her gate in order to gain access to her home. Several items were stolen, including a firearm.

Later that night at about 11 p.m., deputies said there was another burglary at the same home. The woman said two strangers on her property who she didn’t recognize. She confronted them, and they continued to move toward her.

Fearing for her life, deputies said the woman said she fired two rounds in their direction, and they ran away.

The sheriff’s office set up a perimeter using a K-9 dog to find 22-year-old Zachary David Thomas in a vineyard with a gunshot wound. The gun that was stolen from the woman’s property was found a couple feet away from him, and stolen magazines and ammunition were found in his pocket.

Deputies said Thomas was hospitalized for several days as a result of being shot and bitten by the K-9 before being booked at the Yakima County Jail on Thursday, Aug. 29.

The second intruder is likely still at large.