LOGAN, Utah, Sept. 8, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — An intoxicated and suicidal man threatened to kill his mother and shoot Cache County sheriff’s deputies during a two-day standoff that ended with his forcible arrest Thursday, court documents say.
Victor Michael Pete Chavira, 36, refused to surrender to deputies following a domestic dispute at a Nibley home Wednesday evening, according to a probable cause statement filed Friday in 1st District Court.
A SWAT team ultimately deployed tear gas followed by a K-9 unit into the home Thursday afternoon, the affidavit says. The team then entered the home and found Chavira, who still refused to surrender, according to the sheriff’s office.
The SWAT team used “less-lethal Co2 projectiles” to shoot Chavira “about four times” before he was taken into custody, arrest documents say.
Deputies were called to the home by Chavira’s mother, who reported he was “intoxicated and suicidal,” the affidavit says.
The woman told deputies she had been watching Chavira’s 3-year-old son but needed to go to work, according to the sheriff’s office. That led to an argument about his alcohol use and not being about to take care of his son, the affidavit says.
The woman also found what appeared to be a suicide note on Chavira’s computer, according to the sheriff’s office.
The woman told deputies Chavira picked up a handgun during the argument and “said he was going to go outside and wave the gun around so cops would come and shoot him,” the affidavit says. The woman told deputies he didn’t have any bullets for the gun.
She followed Chavira upstairs and to the side door of the home, where he went outside and pointed and waved the gun around, arrest documents say. Chavira also pointed the gun at his mother and himself prior to deputies arriving, according to the sheriff’s office.
Deputies helped the woman, her adult daughter and the 3-year-old safely evacuate the home, but Chavira refused to leave, the affidavit says.
“Michael refused and seemed to grow more intoxicated as he spoke with negotiators until he broke off communication. Deputies chose to back off and keep surveillance on the home,” arrest documents say.
Deputies returned to the home Thursday and contacted him by phone about 2:30 p.m., the affidavit says. A negotiations team took over and spoke for “several hours” with Chavira, who agreed to exit the home several times but never did, according to the sheriff’s office.
“Michael became less cooperative,” the affidavit says, “threatening to shoot officers and telling negotiators they’d have to kill him.”
A SWAT team then responded and took Chavira into custody. He was taken to Logan Regional Hospital and later booked into the Cache County Jail for investigation of:
- Aggravated assault, a third-degree felony
- Threat of violence, a class B misdemeanor
- Carrying a dangerous weapon under the influence of alcohol, a class B misdemeanor
- Interference with an arresting officer, a class B misdemeanor
- Domestic violence in the presence of a child, a class B misdemeanor
- Intoxication, a class C misdemeanor
Chavira is being held without bail.
