25-year-old felon arrested after drive-by shooting on Clearwater in Kennewick

A suspect with previous felony convictions in the Tri-Cities has been arrested after a standoff in connection with a drive-by shooting June 30 on West Clearwater Avenue in Kennewick.

Aaron Lighthall, 25, is being held in the Benton County jail on suspicion of first-degree assault and unlawful gun possession.

Shania Edwards, 26, was arrested at the same time on suspicion of attempting to elude police and misdemeanor possession of an illegal firearm.

At about 2:20 a.m. on June 30 Kennewick police received a call from a “distraught” man who reported he had just been shot at, according to dispatch recordings. He told 911 that he was bleeding.

People who had been in a pickup that turned east onto Clearwater Avenue said someone in a white car opened fire at the pickup, according to a Kennewick police news release.

They drove to the Maverik Gas Station on Clearwater where they called 911, according to dispatch reports.

The truck was struck several times, but none of the bullets hit anyone inside, police said. Flying debris cut the driver’s arm, and he was treated on the scene.

Police say the shooting was at the intersection of West Clearwater Avenue and North Fillmore Street.

Two days later, Lighthall and Edwards were in a car that fled from a Washington State Patrol trooper and hit several parked cars in the 400 block of North Volland Street, according to Kennewick police.

Lighthall and Edwards ran from the car, and police lost sight of them but found a modified gun that was dropped as they ran, according to police.

About 7 p.m. Thursday, July 6, the U.S. Marshal’s Task Force and Metro Drug Task Force located them in a house on the 400 block of Tanglewood Drive in Richland.

When Lighthall would not come out, the Tri-City Regional SWAT team was called.

Guns and evidence linked to the drive-by were found in a search of the house, said Kennewick police.

Lighthall also had an arrest warrant issued in Franklin County, Wash., June 30 for a robbery with a gun and an assault with a deadly weapon. He is accused of taking a cellphone and keys from a woman, according to a court document.

Previously, Lighthall was sentenced to 25 months in prison after an August 2021, drive-by shooting in Pasco in connection with a drug deal.

He was accused of firing shots that hit two cars and a house. No one was hurt.

Before that he was sentenced in Franklin County in September 2020 to a year in prison for forgery and writing a bad check for $750 or more.

He 2019 he was sentenced in Benton County to 15 months in prison after pleading guilty to theft, identity theft, financial fraud, forgery and possessing fentanyl pills.

He was accused with an accomplice of getting friends to deposit checks that were stolen, linked to closed accounts or were on new accounts with insufficient funds, according to court documents.

The two were accused of depositing nearly $54,800 in bad checks and withdrawing nearly $10,000 in cash.