WEST RICHLAND, Wash.-The manhunt for Elias Huizar, the man suspected of killing two women and abducting a child in West Richland on April 22 in ongoing.
One of the women killed was shot on the William Wiley Elementary campus and the Richland School District issued a statement on the situation and the connection between Huizar and the district on April 23, which read in part:
“There are no words to express how deeply saddened we are by the targeted, domestic violence incidents that took place yesterday at William Wiley Elementary and in the surrounding neighborhood that resulted in the death of one of our staff members and another individual. This is a tragedy no community should have to experience.”
According to the RSD, Huizar applied for a substitute position with the district in 2021, and ultimately worked as a substitute during the 2022 and 2023 school years.
Throughout the application process during the winter of 2022, the RSD reportedly got good reference checks from Franklin Middle School in Yakima, where Huizar was employed as an School Resource Officer, and his background checks came back clear.
In regards to Huizar’s employment with the RSD, the district’s statement continued:
“We are extremely disheartened that information about Mr. Huizar’s past was not disclosed to us through the various processes we have in place to vet RSD candidates for employment. It is the expectation for individuals who apply for employment with RSD to be forthcoming and truthful in their applications. No past investigations or allegations appeared in Mr. Huizar’s background checks before he was hired and nothing was disclosed by Mr. Huizar. We take the process of hiring staff very seriously and pride ourselves on the quality and character of our staff member.”
The RSD removed Huizar from its substitute and volunteer portals and issued a No Trespass Notice for all RSD properties after learning of his arrest and the allegations of child rape against him.
The RSD’s full statement is available online.
