THE MAN

You’d be forgiven if the name Shegow Gagow (colloquially known as Africa) was unfamiliar to you. Yet, if you’re in Pasco’s downtown with any regularity, you’ll probably recognize its owner: a lanky, handsome Somali immigrant who can often be spotted interacting animatedly with fellow street denizens. Just don’t strain your neck looking around for him when you’re at Café con Arte this weekend trying their new ice cream offerings, because Shegow has been languishing in jail since April on an assault charge. Those that live and work downtown, regardless of housing status, have been noting his absence in unexpected ways.

“Shegow absolutely does have a leadership role in Downtown Pasco,” says Thomas Granbois of Big Maple Properties. “I’ve asked him several times what he did to become the de facto boss of the area, and he just gives me a huge smile and says, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ while being surrounded by his loyal followers.” Granbois is a prominent landlord who is increasingly vocal about the need to continue investing and rejuvenating downtown Pasco. 

Granbois (through his property holdings and residence) has had quite a few colorful interactions with the downtown boss, once even helping Shegow identify the man who stabbed him in the neck at the nearby Metro Mart by way of one of his properties’ security systems. Granbois genuinely likes Shegow. “I enjoy Shegow because he has always shown me respect,” Granbois says, “and when I ask him or his friends to clean up their messes, or use drugs elsewhere, he doesn’t argue. He just does it.” Frontline officials who were asked about Shegow agree — the man has charisma and is difficult to dislike. 

THE BOSS

“I think they are drawn to him because of his charming personality,” Granbois shared. “[He has an] ability to acquire anything: from bicycles for transportation to drugs. He is also fiercely loyal to his friends. I recall seeing him walking around with a cast on his leg a while back. When I asked one of his friends what had happened, she told me that she was taken advantage of by another homeless person and he beat that man so hard that he broke his foot kicking him.” 

Other unhoused folks have shared their claims of Shegow enforcing his rule with violence. A young Latino man with a bruised face and swollen eye, who is a known ‘blues’ smoker (street name for the blue pill fentanyl is often shaped into), said it was Shegow who was responsible for his wounds. He refused to say what might have prompted the beating, saying only: “I’m no rat.” His friends volunteered that he failed to pay his drug debt to ‘Africa’. The young man soon relocated to Yakima to try and stay with family there and escape ostracization from Shegow’s followers.

Shegow’s longtime girlfriend and ranking lieutenant Melissa Zavala describes the benevolent side of him well: 

“A lot of people follow him ‘cause he helps out A LOT of people. A lot of people. And notice how it gets when he’s not around… like, it’s super sad. People don’t really help out each other the way they do when he’s around. 

He helps out a lot of people. He does. He feeds a lot of people. He keeps a lot of people warm and safe. He keeps a lot of people in line. In check. He does keep a lot of people in check. He’ll be like, ‘You can’t do this to this person and you can’t be a bully to that person, don’t be fighting about this stuff.’ 

And he finds a lot of people’s stuff. If anybody gets something taken from them, they’ll go and tell him… and he’ll get their stuff back. He’ll figure out where it’s at.”

THE DRUGS

Investigating the influence and reach of this local street boss has revealed that many of the prevailing theories about fentanyl distribution are not theories at all, but rather facts on the ground. The low cost and lasting high of ‘blues’ has allowed local cartel agents to effectively multi-level market drug sales which would normally all come from a neighborhood dealer. By offering blues at a significant discount to the already cheap price of $5 a pill, one can ‘pay for their habit’ for as little as $40, getting double the amount of pills and then reselling them to their friends on the street for $5 a pill (the widely accepted market price). 

Being able to take a hit from a pill — typically five to seven times with effects lasting anywhere from 15 minutes to a few hours — makes it the most economical high out there. Benefits, remittances, and paychecks hit people’s bank accounts throughout the month. Dealers have a revolving door of folks buying a bunch of pills and reselling them to their friends on the streets, creating a buffer between dealers, and an even bigger buffer between themselves and local cartel agents, which has not been seen to this extent with other drugs. All of this adds up to Pasco PD having a difficult time identifying significant agents in the real distribution network.

Zavala denies that he’s formally involved with drug sales. “He doesn’t necessarily sell drugs, ‘kay? What he does is that sometimes he’ll help people that are needing help… or he shares whatever he has with friends. It’s not like he has something in his pocket and you can get something from him, no problem… It’s not like that. He’s not like that. He’s not a drug dealer.” And indeed, investigation reveals that while he’s uncannily able to source practically anything, he is not typically ‘holding the bag’ for anyone outside his most intimate circle. 

THE ARREST 

Zavala describes the circumstances leading up to the encounter she, Zagow, and a third man had with an unknown person prior to Zagow’s arrest: 

“Okay, so what happened was, we were going through a field going to our camp and we seen somebody wrapped up in a white sheet and I didn’t know if it was a dead body or something; there’s a lot o’ people been dying. And then when we were talking about that, the guy jumped up. It looked like [he had] a machete. It was dark. It was the middle of the night. 

And anyways, he started yelling at us to get away from him and that that’s his spot and we don’t have no business there and whatever. He hit my man on his forehead, he busted open his head and he started bleeding. He came after me, he hit me in the back, and then he went after my dog. He hit my dog!”

Shegow was arrested in the early hours of April 2 after the altercation with the man “wrapped up in a white sheet” — an older man named Larry. Statements describe both men as having been bloodied. So perhaps because of Larry’s advanced age and the fact that the altercations took place at Larry’s ‘camp’ — it was only Shegow that was arrested that morning. 

Larry claimed that the group was trying to steal his backpack while he was sleeping, and that he had been ‘scalped’ that night by Shegow and another male accomplice. His advanced age, small frame, and wandering attention span makes one wonder how this old man (who by all accounts was sleeping when Shegow’s party encountered him in that field), managed to fight three people, notably injuring two, get the local street boss arrested, and then continue largely business-as-usual. Perhaps the boss will decide what’s to be done when he gets out… or maybe one should read this tale as a positive indication that Pasco’s downtown is not as dangerous, even for street people, as might have been the case historically. Time will tell. 

NOW

Shegow is currently being held on an Assault 2 charge. Zavala expects him to be released anywhere from 30–90 days from now. She is hoping for change when that time comes. Shegow has undergone treatment for addiction while incarcerated and they have shared hopes via video call that they will be able to get out of the streets together when Shegow is released. “He wants a place for my kids to be able to come and be proud,” Zavala shared. “For my kids to be able to come and see me and be able to spend time with us.”

So how are the streets faring with the ‘boss’ languishing in a jail cell? One local official says that things are not business as usual. “We’re seeing wanton violence, especially with the women out here who are professional or incidental prostitutes,” he says. “There is a bit more strife and certain people — men — are trying to assert leadership to various degrees of success.”

“There absolutely is a vacuum now that Shegow is gone,” Granbois says. “It feels like there is less order. But I hope for his sake, when he is done serving his time, he doesn’t return to his role, and instead finds sobriety and ways to use his natural leadership skills.”