Pasco man sentenced to prison for killing Tri-Cities co-worker after work
A Pasco man was sentenced to 19 years in prison for killing a co-worker in 2019 in Burbank, south of the Tri-Cities.
A Walla Walla County jury found Edgar Chavez Beltran, 31, guilty of second-degree murder in early March. Judge Brandon L. Johnson sentenced him Thursday, April 22.
Chavez Beltran and Leopoldo Nunez Parra, 42, of Pasco, worked together as farm laborers but they didn’t get along at work, according to court records.
On the day of the shooting, they were in a Ford F-550 at the Hanging H Farm near the Boise Paper plant shortly before 7 p.m.
Chavez Beltran initially told Walla Walla County sheriff’s investigators that he put a phone in his pocket and Nunez Parra lunged at him, so he took out a 9mm handgun, racked the slide and shot at him 11 times, according to court records.
Two shots hit Nunez Parra in the head, according to court records.
Chavez Beltran then called 911 to report the shooting.
Sheriff’s deputies found Chavez Beltran in the road and the truck parked on Attalia East Road.
At his trial, Chavez Beltran gave a different version of events when he took the stand, claiming he was defending himself, according to the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin.
He told jurors that Nunez Parra was suspicious of him and was acting skittish and jumpy before he got into the truck.
He said he took out the gun and, when Nunez Parra reached for it, Chavez Beltran fired a shot, and then raised it and pointed it at the window.
He testified they scuffled inside the truck and the gun went off.