Drug Arrest Tied to Death of Man, Attack on Deputy

An attempted narcotics arrest led to the scuffle Friday that left one man dead and a sheriff’s deputy critically wounded, a San Diego County sheriff’s lieutenant said Saturday.

The deputy, Dean Mesa, remained in critical but stable condition Saturday in the intensive care unit of Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla. He was “awake and alert” and had spoken with his wife after surgery to remove bullet fragments, she said.

Mesa was shot once in the abdomen with his own revolver by 39-year-old David Chavez of the 16700 block of Paradise Valley Mountain Road in Valley Center, said Lt. Bill Baxter of the sheriff’s homicide division.

Chavez was then shot and killed by Mesa’s partner, reserve deputy Fred Mann, who fired twice and hit Chavez once in the upper torso, Baxter said.

The shooting in the parking lot outside the El Sombrero Cafe on South Santa Fe Avenue began when Mesa and Mann noticed two men “acting suspiciously” in their car. Their investigation led to the discovery of a small amount of unidentified narcotics, and the two officers attempted to arrest Chavez and 37-year-old Michael Peters, who lives on the Rincon Indian Reservation.

Both men resisted and a fight ensued, Baxter said. Peters fled, but Chavez grabbed Mesa’s gun and shot him before he was killed by Mann, Baxter said.

Peters was captured a short while later in an apartment in the 100 block of Terrace Drive and was booked into the Vista Jail on a narcotics charge and charges of resisting arrest and violating parole. He is being held without bail.

The El Sombrero was ordered closed two years ago by the City Council along with another bar because of Sheriff’s Department statistics showing that the bars were responsible for increasing drug trafficking, prostitution and violent crime problems in the area, considered by the Sheriff’s Department to be Vista’s worst crime district.

The bar won a reprieve and remained open after the second bar, the El Rey Club, was closed by the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board. The El Sombrero’s owner began closing early.