Lane County sheriff’s Deputy Justin Wilson opened the door to the 2009 Toyota Corolla, his eyes focused on the driver.
Wilson was among dozens of law enforcement officers from across the Willamette Valley who descended Tuesday afternoon on a grassy median along Interstate 5 not far from Springfield.
Wilson knew the driver, Elias Huizar, 39, had been traveling with a baby; that’s what Huizar told a dispatcher as he sped south on I-5.
Washington authorities say Huizar, a former Yakima police officer, took off with his 1-year-old son on Monday after fatally shooting the child’s 17-year-old mother in the Tri-Cities area of Washington. Huizar also killed his 31-year-old ex-wife, police said.
Teams of police approached Huizar’s silver Corolla. The car’s tinted windows made it difficult to see inside.
Wilson opened the door and saw the child. He grabbed the car seat, still snugly holding the wide-eyed boy who had just experienced a 25-mile high-speed chase, an exchange of gunfire between his father and state police and then the final crash.
“He didn’t make a sound,” said Wilson, who quickly handed the child to an Oregon State Police trooper.
The moment came as a relief after a deadly ordeal that began Monday night as authorities issued a statewide Amber Alert for the boy.
Police in West Richland, Washington, had responded to a shooting outside an elementary school earlier that day. Officers found Amber Rodriguez, 31, Huizar’s ex-wife and the mother of their two sons, shot eight times near the school bus parking lot, according to court records.
Investigators found a second victim at Huizar’s home. West Richland police later identified her as Angelica M. Santos, 17, and said she was the 1-year-old boy’s mother.
About 3 p.m. Tuesday, Oregon troopers spotted Huizar’s Corolla on I-5 in Linn County and chased him at speeds topping 100 mph before Huizar collided with another motorist about 12 miles down the interstate.
That’s where Huizar and the pursuing troopers exchanged gunfire, but no one was hurt, said state police spokesperson Capt. Kyle Kennedy said.
One of the troopers who fired was the state police superintendent, Casey Codding, who happened to be driving south on the freeway at the time and was headed to the Springfield office. Codding monitored radio traffic throughout the day to listen for any developments, Kennedy said.
Codding and Sgt. Orly Johnson remain on administrative leave pending a review of the shooting.
Kennedy did not respond to questions about the specifics of the police decision to fire on Huizar, including whether Huizar was inside the car when police shot at him.
He said the child’s “safety was our priority.”
Huizar took off again with his son in the backseat before he crashed 10 miles later on the interstate between Coburg and Springfield near Eugene. Huizar turned the gun on himself as troopers approached and died in his car stopped in the median.
Wilson was on alert for the possibility that Huizar might pass through Lane County. He headed to I-5, stopped his patrol car near the spot where Huizar had wrecked. He ran up alongside a Chevy Tahoe next to Huizar’s car to make a plan with other officers on how to approach the car. He worried about the baby.
“That was our primary concern,” he said.
Wilson quickly handed the boy to another trooper. A video from a passing car captured three troopers hustling the boy, still in his car seat, into another car.
He was brought to the Oregon State Police office in Springfield, where he played with administrative assistants Maria Hough and Jamie Mathis until child welfare workers with the Oregon Department of Human Services arrived.
He was in good shape but needed a diaper change, Hough said.
Hough at one point slipped away from the office, making a quick Target run for onesies, formula, bottles, diapers, wipes, a giraffe toy and pacifier.
They cleaned him up and fed him yogurt and snacks. He delighted them with his belly laughs.
“He seemed to have been well taken care of,” Mathis said. “He was a healthy looking boy.”
Mathis rocked him to sleep in an office chair and then handed him off to a state child welfare worker.
West Richland police said they were working to reunite him with family.
-- Noelle Crombie is an enterprise reporter with a focus on criminal justice. Reach her at 503-276-7184; ncrombie@oregonian.
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