EVERETT — A man has been charged with murder for the fatal point-blank shooting of Daniel Chavez outside a south Everett 7-Eleven.
Jose “Jackson” Navarro Padilla, 54, was arraigned Monday in Snohomish County Superior Court on charges of second-degree murder with a firearm.
On the night of Sept. 16, police responded to the 7-Eleven at 11825 Airport Road to reports of shots fired in the parking lot.
Chavez, 36, of Spokane, was down on the ground in critical condition with gunshot wounds to his forehead, abdomen and forearm, prosecutors wrote. Unresponsive, he was taken to a hospital where he died two days later, charging papers say.
The Snohomish County Medical Examiner determined his cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head and his manner of death was homicide.
The night of the shooting, security footage showed Chavez bought a beverage inside the convenience store at Airport Road and Evergreen Way. A bald man, later identified as Navarro Padilla, walked up next to him and stood at the adjacent register, the charges allege.
“At one point, the man appeared to glare at Chavez and then looked away,” prosecutors wrote, “shaking his head and pounding his cigarettes on the counter.”
Chavez walked outside. One minute later, Navarro Padilla reportedly followed.
Seconds later, at 10:15 p.m., Chavez was shot.
Security footage from nearby businesses showed Navarro Padilla ran westbound from the 7-Eleven, wearing a black-and-white puffy jacket.
Police identified Navarro Padilla with the help of a witness who reported he walked to the convenience store on the night of the shooting with a man he knew as Jackson, prosecutors wrote. The witness told police Navarro Padilla had gotten into an argument with another Hispanic man.
Navarro Padilla reportedly told police he had shot Chavez, who he had never met before that night, the charges say.
“The defendant claimed that inside the 7-Eleven, Chavez had been acting aggressively towards employees and swearing,” prosecutors wrote. “The defendant said that outside the store, Chavez was still being aggressive and swearing, so the defendant confronted him.”
The Everett suspect had been arrested in 2019 in a robbery near Home Depot where he was armed with a machete, police wrote. At the time of the shooting, he reportedly had two active warrants out of Skagit County, issued in October 2021 and March 2022, respectively.
Navarro Padilla remained in custody at the Snohomish County Jail this week with bail set at $1,006,000.
Ellen Dennis: 425-339-3486; edennis@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @reporterellen.
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