Lesa Haddock was searching for her 21-year-old son when he spun out of control last month and gunned down three people at a southeast Yakima convenience store.
Police have no idea why Jarid Haddock went on a shooting rampage at a Circle K at the corner of East Nob Hill Boulevard and South 18th Street during the early hours of Jan. 24. After hours at large, his rage turned inward and he shot himself in the head.
Lesa Haddock told police that her son's three years of meth use had dramatically intensified over the past month and that he'd been "acting crazy" and had access to guns.
Whether Jarid Haddock was on meth that day remains unclear; authorities are awaiting toxicology results from a private lab.
But one thing is certain: Meth use has been a longstanding problem in the Yakima Valley, and it's only getting worse, said a Yakima police sergeant and DEA agent.
And a February 2021 Washington State Supreme Court ruling — the Blake decision — that decriminalized simple drug possession isn't helping, police and prosecutors say.
The street drug is cheaper, its potency has doubled in recent years and users are often pushed over the edge faster, Yakima police Sgt. Rafael Sanchez said.
"Paranoia kicks up," he said. "There's a lot of cash money around drug use. The robberies, that increases. There's a lot of violence and there's a lot of guns related to drug trafficking."
Police say there was no indication that Haddock was involved in drug trafficking, nor did he try to rob the store or anyone else.
Lesa Haddock's account is from a probable cause affidavit filed in court; she couldn't be reached for comment. Store and area video surveillance and witness accounts also reveal how events unfolded that fateful day.
About 3 a.m., Jarid Haddock pulled into the Arco AM/PM at the corner of East Nob Hill Boulevard and South 18th Street and found the convenience store was closed. He returned to his car and realized he had locked his keys inside.
He crossed the street to Circle K, where he stepped in for less than a minute and returned to his car without buying anything. He tried all the doors on his car again but couldn't get inside.
He loitered in the area for more than 20 minutes, walking around the parking lot.
During that time, he sent a text to his mom, Lesa, saying: "I locked my keys in the car." Then another text: "Arco."
Lesa replied: "Which one." She drove to the Arco in Terrace Heights and realized it was closed. She then began driving to the one at Nob Hill and 18th.
Meanwhile, Haddock — clad in a dark stocking cap, black hoodie and small backpack — returned to Circle K and immediately opened fire on Nikki Godfrey, 40, and Roy Knoeb Jr., 65, while they were getting deli food.
Haddock emptied the magazine of his semiautomatic handgun as Godfrey and Knoeb fell to floor. After seeing Godfrey's arm move, Haddock loaded a fresh magazine and fired several more shots into her. He then knelt down and appeared to have touched her.
Haddock left and headed around the west side of the store. He stopped, turned and began shooting into a Chevrolet Tahoe that was parked at the gas pumps, killing 54-year-old Jeffrey Howlett.
Haddock returned to his car, shot out the driver's side window, retrieved his keys and drove away.
Lesa was headed to the area when her husband, David, called, saying their son's car was in the driveway of their Butterfield Road home.
She returned home to find his car parked. The driver's door was wide open and the window had been shot out.
Lesa briefly entered the home and called out her son's name. There was no reply. She got a bad feeling, loaded up her dogs and left with her husband.
She called police after seeing a media release about the triple homicide at Circle K.
Police couldn't make sense of the random killings.
"The fact that he came in with his face fully exposed and shot and killed people is very strange and very disturbing," Yakima Police Chief Matt Murray said that day.
Meth has been on the streets here since the early 2000, said Sanchez, who is assigned to a Drug Enforcement Administration task force. Most of it is coming from Mexico now with about a 98% purity rate, well above the 50% rate of the past, he said.
"It used to be that they would cut it to increase profits," Sanchez said. "Nowadays it's so cheap, they're not even cutting it down at the street level anymore."
Higher potency is landing people in a bad place a lot faster.
"They burn fast — their body gets wasted and their mind gets wasted pretty fast," he said. "They're not eating, not taking care of themselves. It's a rough lifestyle."
Drug users turn to crime to support their habit and drug traffickers can become violent when their street business becomes threatened, Sanchez said.
"Narcotics, violence and guns have always gone hand in hand," he said. "That's typical and that's what we've been dealing with."
Yakima County Prosecutor Joe Brusic worries the problem is only going to get worse with the Blake decision.
Brusic said he hasn't charged out a drug possession case since the ruling.
"I'll never forget it," he said of the ruling.
Under the ruling, those caught in possession of drugs are referred to a recovery navigator who helps connect them to services. They're also supposed to get a substance abuse evaluation and follow through with any recommendations.
Drug possession charges aren't filed until the third offense, Brusic said.
But those who are sent to a navigator aren't being tracked adequately, he said, and neither are their substance abuse evaluations.
Because of that, they may not face charges even after the third time being caught in possession of drugs, he said.
Also, they are not required to seek treatment if they do have a problem, Brusic said.
"If they don't agree to do it, they can walk away, and that's where it falls down," Brusic said. "These people are not being dealt with in a database system, or it's just not working."
Haddock had no history of violence, but he entered a felony diversion program in 2021 after being caught with a stolen car. Under the diversion, he agreed to seek a drug and alcohol evaluation and to abide by all laws.
A month after entering the program, he admitted to using meth, heroin and benzodiazepine. Even though he tested positive for amphetamine and methamphetamine at the time, he was still allowed to complete the diversion and avoid a conviction on his record.
Mental health and substance abuse experts say chronic meth users often experience drug-induced psychosis.
"What you see is increased paranoia, increased delusions, behaviors that mimic schizophrenia," said Cassidy Leslie, clinical director at Triumph Treatment Services.
That's backed up by research published in the Journal of Drug Issues.
Sometimes people suffering from mental health problems resort to drugs. Other times mental health problems are spawned by drug use.
Either way, most people struggling with addiction need metal health and substance abuse treatment, Leslie said.
She says resources are lacking to meet the need in Yakima County.
Triumph has 124 beds for impatient treatment — 60 for men, 32 for women, and another 32 for pregnant and parenting women.
Those beds are typically 95% full, Leslie said.
Aside from that, there's a need for more education about addiction and its impacts on the family, she said.
"There's not a lot of resources for families either to help families understand addiction," she said. "Many see it as a moral failing, and it's not. It's a disease."
Leah Batty-Hibbs, mental health provider at Triumph, said people battling drug addiction often have underlying issues, such as adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs. They have seen or experienced trauma, such as abuse or neglect, or possibly an attempt to commit suicide.
Those experiences can impact someone for the rest of their lives, she said.
"What has happened to them?" she said. "It's not what's wrong with them, it's what's happened to them in their history."
People can heal from those experiences, she said.
"When an individual struggles with trauma and they live through it, there's treatment," she said. "We can rewire those transmitters in the brain so people can recover."
It isn't known if Haddock suffered trauma in his life, but something pushed him over the edge Jan. 24.
After police spent most the day surrounding his house, a woman reported that he was pacing the parking lot of Target on Fair Avenue in northeast Yakima. It was about 2:30 p.m.
She let him use her phone and overheard him telling his mom he shot and killed people that morning and was going to kill himself.
He returned the phone and the woman called police. Haddock was pacing in the parking lot and began walking toward her while she was still on the phone. A dispatcher told her to go into a nearby business for safety.
Haddock then walked to a pot shop behind Target, where a worker said he bought some marijuana and left.
A customer told police he saw Haddock walk around the back of the pot shop and then heard a gunshot, followed by Haddock yelling. Haddock returned and shot himself in the head while in the shop's driveway, the customer said.
Police found Haddock on the ground, moving. He had a gun in his right hand and a bullet wound through his head, police said.
Haddock was given medical attention on the scene. About an hour later, he was pronounced dead at a Yakima hospital.
