Man guilty of second-degree murder in Everett gas station shooting

Published 2:37 pm Wednesday, May 20, 2026

EVERETT – Whether Jose “Jackson” Navarro Padilla shot and killed a man outside a south Everett convenience store in 2022 was not up for debate throughout an eight-day murder trial in Snohomish County Superior Court.

The 58-year-old Everett man testified to firing his gun twice during a Friday-night altercation between strangers that ended with 36-year-old Daniel Chavez being shot outside a 7-Eleven on Airport Road.

Instead, jurors were left to weigh Navarro Padilla’s intent and mindset after a brief confrontation led to deadly gunfire on Sept. 16, 2022.

On Wednesday, after about four hours of deliberation, a jury found Navarro Padilla guilty of second-degree murder with a firearm, the lesser of two felony charges filed against a man that’s been behind bars for more than three years.

“Three minutes, that is the window from the first time Mr. Navarro Padilla saw Daniel Chavez until the time that Mr. Chavez was lying in the parking lot of a 7-Eleven, dying from two gunshot wounds,” Snohomish County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Cheryl Johnson told the jury during closing arguments on Tuesday.

Navarro Padilla has been in jail since October 2022 accused of second-degree murder with a firearm. Prosecutors tacked on an additional first-degree murder charge last month. The dual charges left it up to the jury to decide if Navarro Padilla acted with the intent to kill and if his decision was premeditated.

“You need more than a moment in time, you need a decision to be made to find premeditation and that is easy to discard,” Robert O’Neil, the defense attorney for Navarro Padilla, said during closing arguments.

Security footage from the night of the shooting shows the two strangers inside the 7-Eleven store on Airport Road and Evergreen Way at the same time.

Chavez was wearing a facemask and playing loud rap music inside the store that could be heard in a video played in court. The men didn’t interact, but Navarro Padilla testified that he noticed Chavez and described his actions as unusual.

Minutes later, outside the store, investigators said the two men exchanged words before Navarro Padilla opened fire at point-blank range, according to charging papers and courtroom accounts.

Chavez suffered wounds to his forehead, abdomen and arm. He died at the hospital two days later.

Navarro Padilla testified that the two argued in Spanish after Chavez demanded a cigarette, then called him a homophobic slur and threatened to rob him. Navarro Padilla said he pulled a gun from his jacket when he saw Chavez reaching for something from his backpack.

“I thought he was about to take out a weapon or something,” he testified.

Navarro Padilla said he put the gun in the air and warned those around him, including Chavez, “This is going to get bad, you better run,” according to testimony and court records.

“The defendant stopped and articulated that he was going to kill someone,” Johnson said during closing arguments.

Navarro Padilla said moments later Chavez reached for his gun and he fired the first shot.

“It was a matter of life and death the way I see it,” he told the jury on Monday.

Navarro Padilla testified that the man kept coming, so he fired again.

“Is there evidence of an intent to kill here? Or is there just a really ugly, terrible situation that we wish hadn’t happened, because sometimes those things happen,” O’Neil said.

Navarro Padilla testified that he “freaked out” after the shooting. He ran from the scene, ditching the jacket he was wearing and the suspected murder weapon along Airport Road.

“I’d never ever shot anybody, I was just scared,” he testified. “I didn’t want to put my life at risk more.”

Tips from witnesses led Everett Police Department investigators to Navarro Padilla weeks later, court records said.

During his initial interrogation, Navarro Padilla admitted to shooting Chavez and told investigators he could have walked away before the shooting, according to charging documents.

In court this week, Navarro Padilla testified that much of what he told officers about the shooting wasn’t true.

“I lied because I was afraid (the police) wouldn’t believe me,” Navarro Padilla said on Monday. “I wanted that interview to end, so I lied about it.”

Prosecutors said Navarro Padilla’s accounts of the shooting changed a half-dozen times through the lengthy court process, calling into question his claims of fearing for his life.

“The defendant decided to murder Daniel Chavez,” Johnson said. “He contemplated and premeditated this and we know this because he said it. He said his plan before he did it, he gave his friends the chance to leave before he did it.”

The defense argued Navarro Padilla was just a man protecting himself in a bad part of town.

“Was this intentional murder, was this an intentional killing or was this just the ugly chemistry of a bunch of people in a terrible place in life, where ultimately you don’t know where to place the blame? That’s not guilty,” O’Neil told jurors during closing arguments.

Navarro Padilla is scheduled to be sentenced on May 28. Sentencing range for second-degree murder is between 10 and more than 18 years, with a mandatory additional five years, because the crime was committed with a gun.

“At any point and time, he could’ve walked away and avoided this” Johnson said during closing arguments.

Ian Davis-Leonard: 425-339-3097; ian.davis-leonard@heraldnet.com