Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Pair sentenced for assault in fatal bar shootout

Two illegal immigrants who originally faced murder charges in connection with a fatal bar-brawl-turned-shootout in November 2003 were sentenced to prison for assault with a deadly weapon on Wednesday.

Victor Buena, 35, and Carlos Pantajo, 25, were charged by Metro Police homicide detectives with murder with a deadly weapon shortly after the shooting in the parking lot of Pepe's Bar at 1729 E. Charleston Blvd. near Bruce Street on Nov. 21, 2003.

Jerardo Chavez, 27, of Las Vegas was killed and waitress Manuela Gomez as well as bar patrons John Aguirre and Gustavo Arandas were injured. Patrol officers spotted Buena and Pantajo speeding away from the bar in a pickup truck, pulled it over and took them into custody.

The murder charges against Buena and Pantoja, however, were changed after a gunshot residue test performed on Chavez revealed he was most likely firing shots during the melee.

The gun residue found on Chavez's hand coupled with a bullet hole found in the pants leg of Pantoja and the head injury Buena is believed to have suffered from a hit with a beer bottle, led to the new charge of assault with a deadly weapon.

District Judge Joseph Bonaventure sentenced Buena to two to five years in prison, but he will receive credit for the 522 days he has served in custody on the case. Pantoja was sentenced to one to four years in prison and will also be credited with 522 days for the time he has served in jail on the case.

Both illegal immigrants are expected to be deported once they have completed their prison sentences, according to defense attorneys and prosecutors involved in the case.

Although Bonaventure said he believed justice was served through the negotiation, he did say he was troubled by the incident, which is consistent with the unfortunate trend he has seen in the growth of crime in Las Vegas

"The county, the city is about to turn 100 years old and it's starting to be the Wild West," Bonaventure said. "Guns, violence, home invasions, rapes, lewdnesses -- it all makes a judge sick to his stomach."

"When I came here in the 1960s it was a great city and now a it's a violent city we are living in."

John Aguirre said he will never regain full use of his left elbow as a result of the shooting nor have the company of his nephew, Chavez, who died in the shooting. Aguirre said he felt bad because he thought there was going to be justice.

"We only wanted justice for my nephew and his sons," Aguirre said.

Bonaventure said under the circumstances it might have been difficult for a jury to convict Buena and Pantoja beyond a reasonable doubt because "guns were going off all over and fights were happening and people were running around."

The judge encouraged Aguirre to monitor Buena and Patoja's imprisonment and to contact the parole board so he and his family could argue both men stay in prison longer when they come before the board.

Bonaventure's words didn't rest well with Aguirre as he said "there wasn't any justice here and hopefully there is a God and there will be justice someday."

Chief Deputy District Attorney Chris Owens said he and investigators worked extremely hard on the case, but because of the gun residue found on Chavez's hand and the bullet hole in Pantoja's pant leg it would have been extremely difficult to have taken the pair to trial on murder charges.

The shootout at Pepe's Bar, which Buena's attorney Gabe Grasso labeled "Once Upon a Time in Mexico," apparently began with some heavy beer drinking. The partying soon led to an alleged altercation between Chavez and Gomez, who he believed had "spoken ill of his mother."

Deputy Special Public Defender Ivette Maningo, who represented Pantoja, said Chavez kicked the waitress in the chest twice, causing the bartender to close the bar.

Chavez and five other men proceeded to leave the bar, but didn't immediately leave the parking lot. Buena and Pantoja left shortly thereafter along with Gomez.

What happened next is open to interpretation, but Maningo, Grasso and Owens agree a conflict ensued involving gunshots, which left Chavez dead and Gomez, Aguirre and Arrandas injured.

Unlike Buena, who refused to cooperate with the police, Pantoja offered detectives a detail-specific account of what occurred at Pepe's Bar.

Pantoja said after exiting the bar gun shots were fired at Buena, Gomez and himself. He admitted to pulling out his .38 caliber handgun and firing shots along with Buena, who had a .40 caliber handgun. He said after the shooting subsided he and Buena drove away and later showed officers where he and Buena had thrown their weapons out of the vehicle.

Police found the .40 caliber gun, but never recovered the .38 caliber weapon.

Although the gun residue test indicated that it was highly likely Chavez had used a gun or was in close proximity to someone who has used a gun, no weapon was ever recovered from the scene that could be attributed to Chavez.

Arrandas, who testified at a preliminary hearing to drinking 50 beers on the day of the shooting and to throwing a beer bottle at Buena, was never tested for gunshot residue; nor was Aguirre.

The case also saw the Nevada Supreme Court issue a ruling that should change the way attempted murder charges are prosecuted in the state.

During the trial the state's high court was asked to determine if a person could be charged with one count of attempted murder for every bullet fired by an individual.

In the past, if someone fired 20 shots and three people were injured, that individual could face 20 charges of attempted murder.

That has changed. The state's high court ruled a person could only be charged based on how many people were injured and not based on the number of bullets fired, which is a departure from the court's previous stance on the issue.

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