Gunfire reported in dispute among family members of Modesto man fatally shot by police
Family members of 30-year-old Paul Chavez Jr., the intoxicated Modesto man fatally shot last month by a police officer, renewed their demands at Tuesday’s City Council meeting for the officer to be fired and prosecuted.
After he left the meeting, one family member who addressed council members was arrested on suspicion of firing a gun into the air earlier Tuesday. That incident took place during a dispute over whether Chavez’s father-in-law was to blame for the fatal shooting.
Stanislaus County sheriff’s Lt. Tom Letras said authorities were watching the family member, Eric Hager, and waiting for the appropriate time to take him into custody. He said that as a member of the public, Hager had to pass through a metal detector before attending the meeting, making it highly unlikely he would be armed.
On July 14, Chavez’s father-in-law called 911 to report Chavez was drunk, trying to break into the house and threatening his life, according to a video report released by police. He called again to say Chavez had picked up a trailer hitch.
Officer Sergio Valencia shot Chavez with a Taser as he held the trailer hitch at his side and walked toward officers. Chavez did not comply to repeated commands that he drop the hitch, and he pulled the prongs of the stun gun from his body. Officer Sam Muncy shot Chavez two times with his firearm.
The shooting took place in the front yard of a neighbor next to the home of Chavez’s in-laws on the 1400 block of Entrada Way.
Chavez’s widow, Brittoni Estrella Chavez, said Wednesday that her father is not blame for her husband’s death.
“It wasn’t that (911) phone call that killed him,” she said. “It was not the bullet. It was not the gun, but the man (Muncy) who made the decision to fire the gun.
“He (her father) called the police because he knew Paul was drunk. We knew he had a trailer hitch. We told the police so they knew what they were walking into. We gave them information” so they could deescalate.
Family and their supporters said at Tuesday’s council meeting that it took just 23 seconds for Muncy to shoot Chavez after Muncy and Valencia confronted him. They said Chavez was drunk and not a threat to the officers.
Sheriff’s deputies detained Hager, who is Chavez’s brother-in-law, after he left the council meeting at Tenth Street Place, the city-county government center in downtown.
Hager, 31, was arrested on suspicion of being a felon in possession of a firearm and negligent discharge of a firearm in the Tuesday shooting at the family dispute. He was in custody as of Wednesday afternoon. He spoke at Tuesday’s council meeting, asking that Muncy by prosecuted.
The dispute and alleged firearm discharge occurred about 3:30 p.m. in the 800 block of Spencer Avenue in west Modesto, according to Letras, the sheriff’s lieutenant.
He said deputies responded to a report of an altercation among family members over Chavez’s fatal shooting. Two members said Chavez’s father-in-law calling 911 escalated the police response, while Hager argued the police were solely responsible.
Letras said the three yelled at one another for several minutes before Hager walked away. Letras said Hager is suspected of pulling a gun from his pocket and firing several shots into the air. He was gone by the time deputies arrived. Letras said deputies collected shell casings and cell phone video from a witness.
Plainclothes cops on scene
Hager then took part in a demonstration in front of the Modesto Police Department over Chavez’s killing. About a dozen family members, friends and supporters gathered there before attending the City Council meeting.
Chavez’s family and friends also protested his death at the Aug. 9 council meeting.
Letras said Modesto police knew about the shooting, but officers and deputies did not want to arrest him at the demonstration because he still might have been armed.
Letras said Hager never was out of the sight of deputies and plainclothes Modesto detectives. He said once they learned he would take part in the City Council protest, they decided Tenth Street Place was the best place to arrest him. But they understood how it could look to arrest someone speaking against police brutality.
Letras emphasized that had Hager acted in any way suspicious or alarming, detectives and deputies would have immediately taken him into custody.
Because Hager had to pass through a metal detector to enter Tenth Street Place, Letras said it was very unlikely he would be armed. Letras said he decided to let Hager address the council and exercise his First Amendment rights.
“We had plenty of eyes on him and were confident he would not have the firearm in the chambers,” Letras said. “That is why we made the decision to get him when he walked out, without interrupting a City Council meeting or making a large scene.”
Hager was detained outside without incident. As they were taking Hager into custody, deputies responded to a fight that spilled out of the nearby Brendan Theatres.
Letras said deputies searched Hager’s vehicle and home but did not find a gun. He said they found magazines and 9mm ammunition, the type he said was used at the west Modesto shooting.
Shakes chief’s hand
Before Hager left the City Council meeting, he introduced himself to Police Chief Brandon Gillespie, who was at the meeting.
“He just said he wanted to introduce himself,” Gillespie said in a text message, “He said his name was Eric and shook my hand. I don’t know if he was trying to gauge whether we knew about the earlier shooting or not.”
Estrella Chavez said Hager is married to her sister, Alissia Hager.
Estrella Chavez said her sister did not want to comment. Estrella Chavez said one family member has been claiming her father is responsible for the fatal shooting.
Estrella Chavez said what her brother-in-law Eric Hager is suspected of doing has no bearing on a Modesto police officer wrongly shooting her husband. She said she did not learn about the incident and his arrest until late Tuesday night.
Both officers were placed on paid leave after the Chavez shooting. Valencia, a four-year veteran of the department, returned to duty after a week, and Muncy, a nine-year veteran of the department, returned to duty after three weeks, according to a Police Department spokeswoman.
Family and friends described Chavez as a devoted husband and father of three young boys. He had worked for nearly seven years as a truck driver for Smart Alternative Fuels, collecting used cooking oil from restaurants and other businesses.
Previous visit by officers
Estrella Chavez said her husband had struggled with alcohol and had recently relapsed. Officers were at his in-laws’ home the day before the shooting because Chavez was there and had been drinking.
Estrella Chavez said the officers who responded to that call talked with Chavez and calmed him down. They said they drove him to his nearby home so he could pick up a change of clothes and then drove him to the warehouse where he works so he could spend the night and sober up away from his family.
She said she and her husband and their boys had lived in Manteca for several years before moving to Modesto a few months ago to be closer to her parents.
Three investigations of the shooting are being conducted. The Police Department is conducting administrative and criminal investigations. Both investigations continue, though the criminal investigation is expected to be sent to the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office soon, according to the department spokeswoman.
The District Attorney’s Office is conducting its own review.
Muncy and a fellow officer were involved in a January 2017 fatal shooting. In December 2018, prosecutors with the District Attorney’s Office determined the officers had no choice but to fire their guns at Spencer Herckt after he hit one of them in the head with a glass “bong” during a confrontation.
This story was originally published August 25, 2022 at 8:27 AM.
