Fort Worth gunman hit with bricks by crowd died from blows to his head, report says
A Fort Worth man accused of fatally shooting another man at a gathering in the Como neighborhood last month was beaten to death just minutes after the shooting, according to a ruling released Friday by officials with the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Miguel Chavez, 42, died from blunt force injuries to his head during an assault with a blunt object, officials said in the ruling. His death was ruled a homicide.
Officials with the medical examiner’s office did not say what blunt objects were, but Fort Worth police have said that a group of people used landscaping bricks to hit Chavez after the shooting. Authorities said people struck him several times with the bricks.
The group attacked Chavez after he was accused of shooting to death Joel Pocasangre Garay, police said.
No charges have been filed against the group who hit Chavez. Legal experts told the Star-Telegram last month that the people who stoned the gunman to death as he opened fired on them are unlikely to face charges because their actions appear to fit within all the legal parameters of self-defense.
“(The case) has been presented to the district attorney’s office for review and presentation to the grand jury at their discretion,” said Fort Worth Officer Brad Perez, a police department spokesman, in a Friday email.
Fort Worth police said that a shooting erupted on the morning of July 26 after a disturbance between a group of people who knew each other.
Police said the shooting was reported just before 1 a.m. after a fight broke out at a small gathering in the back yard of a home on Shiloh Drive in the Como neighborhood.
A man attending the party became upset and left, but he returned with another person, police said. They went to the back yard and argued with several people.
The man, later identified as Miguel Chavez, shot at least one person in the back yard, and fled as other party-goers chased him, police said.
The gunman turned and fired at the group, but other people picked up landscaping bricks and hurled them at the shooter, police said.
At some point, the gunman was caught by the group, and either fell or was taken down. He continued shooting, striking at least three people, authorities said.
Garay, 36, was found in a front yard of a home on Shiloh Drive, Fort Worth police said. He died from a gunshot wound to his chest.
Chavez was found dead on a driveway.
