Bond Set At $1M For Suspect In Junior Solis’ Murder

Moses Lake resident Alfredo “Junior” Solis was killed early Sunday morning by a longtime Spokane gang member, who may be facing a third-strike offense for Solis’ killing.

Junior Solis grew up in Moses Lake, played football for his high school and loved music. His rap group “Base Blocc” was one of the acts that performed on stage at the Ichiban lounge Saturday night.

“Everything was fine until towards the end of the night when a group of guys started fighting,” an eyewitness to the shooting said.

The fighting erupted again at the Quality Inn at 4th and Cowley where the rap group and its fans had rented several rooms. The eyewitness, who asked not to be identified, says the pushing and shoving on the fourth floor escalated.

“Well then I saw my cousin come out of one of the rooms and she was bleeding from the head and I said what happened and she said my boyfriend was getting jumped and they hit me ? with a bottle,” she said.

At some point, Solis also got involved in the melee; people scattered when they saw someone pull a pistol.

“And I look to the side and I see a young man with a gun and I was like oh no I need to get out of here,” the woman said.

Moments later she heard a single gunshot and found Solis in the room next door.

“And I ran over and put my hand on where he was bleeding and I’m just like breathe, just breathe, you’ll be OK, just breathe,” she said.

Solis was taken to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center where he died. Spokane Police say the gunman was John Castro, who was previously interviewed back in 2003 after leading Spokane police on a high-speed chase that ended in a standoff with the SWAT team.

“I’m not a bad guy, I wouldn’t hurt anybody. If anything i would hurt myself before I hurt anybody else,” Castro said.

Castro has nine adult felony convictions on his record and spent nearly four years in prison during two different stretches. After hearing Castro’s criminal history Monday, a district court judge set Castro’s bond at $1 Million.

“It’s sad, really sad. It could have been anyone of us. No one deserves to die over something that’s just stupid,” the eyewitness said.

If convicted of killing Junior Solis, it would be a third strike offense for Castro, who would end up in prison for the rest of his life.