By Katie Daviscourt – The Postmillennial
A former Washington state police officer suspected of killing his ex-wife and girlfriend then kidnapping his 1-year-old child died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head on Tuesday during a multi-agency manhunt.
Oregon State Patrol located Elias Huizar, 40, driving southbound on I-5 near Eugene, Oregon, and initiated a vehicle pursuit. OSP reported that the pursuit came to an end around 3 pm when the suspect sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, according to KOMO News.
Police located the kidnapped child, Roman Santos, who was safely taken into custody by OSP.
On Monday, Huizar was identified as a person of interest after his ex-wife, Amber Rodriguez, was found shot dead outside of Wiley Elementary School in West Richland. Her body was located with eight gunshot wounds near the school bus parking lot, according to police documents. Rodriguez was a para-educator at the school, per the Richland School District.
Huizar reportedly shot Rodriguez to death in front of their 9-year-old son, police said.
Officers located a second murder scene with a second homicide victim when they executed a search warrant at Huizar’s residence on Monday night. Although WSP named Huizar’s girlfriend as the victim, police on Tuesday refused to elaborate or clarify whether the victim was the teenage girl who had been living with him.
Huizar was a former police officer with the Yakima Police Department but left the agency in 2021 after receiving disciplinary action, the department said. He was then hired by the Richland School District as a school resource officer.
In February, Huizar was accused of raping a 16-year-old girl after giving her alcohol. The 16-year-old rape victim was reportedly a friend of a 17-year-old former student he met while working as a school resource officer who lived with him, court records show, KOMO News reports.
Rodriguez filed a protection order against Huizar earlier this year, in which court documents state that Rodriguez said the student was 15 when he impregnated her and 11 when they first met.
Rodriguez stated in the protective order application that she was unaware that Huizar was seeing the same teenager he had met as a resource officer until he was accused of rape. Her divorce from Huizar was finalized last year.
Rodriguez declared that she feared for her children’s safety and that they would be changing their parenting strategy. According to court documents, she applied for the modification last Friday. He was prohibited from owning firearms by the protection order, which was granted in February and was set to last for a year.
Following his arrest in February, the Richland School District confirmed that Huizar’s employment had been terminated. The district stated that he had cleared background checks and had recommendations from the Yakima School District before hiring him in 2022.