Bend police: Suspect in Calif. shooting, fatal hit-and-run may be in C.O.
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – Bend police said Tuesday they received information that a suspect in a shooting and a fatal hit-and-run crash in Yuba County, California last week could be in Central Oregon.
William Joseph Henson, 35, of Marysville, Calif., “should be considered potentially armed and dangerous,” the Yuba County Sheriff’s Department said in a Facebook posting.
Bend police Lt. Juli McConkey said Yuba County officials got an anonymous tip and passed it along that Henson might be headed to Central Oregon. He has no known associates in the Bend area, she added.
Henson is not associated with a vehicle that Bend police are aware of, but they noted his possible armed and dangerous status. “If you see him or know where he is, please call 911 immediately,” the department said in a Facebook posting.
Yuba County detectives said an arrest warrant on a murder charge was issued for Henson in the June 30 killing of motorcyclist Michael Sanchez, 44, of Yuba City, as he sped away in a vehicle from a shooting moments earlier.
Henson also is accused of firing a gun toward a hotel parking lot, injuring a woman when a bullet hit her vehicle.
The sheriff's department said deputies responded to reports of an argument in front of a motel and a woman suffered non-life-threatening injuries when hit by a bullet as she pulled out of a parking lot.
Deputies said Henson drove away and struck the motorcycle "at a high rate of speed" as Sanchez was stopped at a red light.
Henson is described as a white male with brown hair and brown eyes, about 5-foot-9 and 135 pounds. He has multiple tattoos, including on his neck and face. Area residents were warned to not approach Henson if spotted but to call the sheriff’s department or email their tip line.
