PORT ORCHARD – The Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office has identified the female killed in the Port Orchard Walmart shooting as 13-year-old Astrid L. Valdivia.
Washington State Patrol Trooper Krista Hedstrom said positive identification was made through dental records.
The girl was with Anthony A. Martinez when he opened fire on two Kitsap County deputies Jan. 23, wounding them. Deputies returned fire and Martinez was pronounced dead at the scene. The Kitsap County Coroner’s Office ruled the cause of his death as a gunshot wound to the chest.
Valdivia was wounded and taken to Tacoma General Hospital, where she later died. Hedstrom said it was not known yet whether she died from a bullet fired by the suspect or a deputy. That determination will be included in the final report, expected in about a month, Hedstrom said.
Martinez, 30, was accused in October of child kidnapping in Clearfield, Utah, after he reportedly took Valdivia from North Davis Junior High School and traveled with her to California, ABC News in Salt Lake City reported today.
Martinez was arrested in California and Valdivia was taken back to Utah. She was living in a South Salt Lake City foster home when she disappeared Jan. 18. Police say she removed a tracking monitor she was wearing, ABC News reported. South Salt Lake Police reported her missing and suspected that she was in the illegal custody of Martinez.
Evidence has been sent to the Washington State Crime Lab for forensic testing on the weapons involved. Results are still pending and could take several weeks.
Hedstrom described a chaotic scene that lasted “less than a minute” from the officers’ arrival to the final shot: Three officers — Deputies Andrew Ejde, Krista McDonald and John Stacy — arrived in separate cars at the Walmart in response to a citizen’s report of suspicious behavior and found Martinez and Valdivia outside eating. Martinez walked with the officers while they questioned him, Hedstrom said. “They questioned him for 30-45 seconds. They began asking him for his name and identification and he ran.”
Martinez immediately began firing a handgun. “As all that’s happening, she was running,” Hedstrom said of Valdivia. “She ran into the middle of everything as it was going down.”
Investigators determined that Martinez was killed by a bullet fired from McDonald’s .40-caliber Glock. Martinez’s gun has not been identified.
Hedstrom said usually one or two officers respond to suspicious behavior calls. “I believe (the third deputy) happened to be in the area, didn’t have any calls and just went. It’s a good thing they did.”