PASO MAN VICTIM OF MISTAKE?

Tungai Chavez may have been stabbed to death in his Paso Robles
apartment because he looked like his assailant's intended target,
according to police reports filed in court.

Antonio Campoverde -- now in County Jail without bail -- was looking for
someone else when he entered a Spring Street apartment earlier this
month and confronted Chavez and several other men inside, police reports
show.

Campoverde, 23, has pleaded not guilty to murder for the Oct. 7 killing.
His next scheduled court appearance is Nov. 20 in Department 5.

According to reports, Campoverde told police he entered the apartment
looking for a man he said had called him names in the past. Campoverde
apparently told police he had been drinking before he went to the
apartment where he thought the man lived.

The more he drank, the angrier he got, reports state.

Campoverde admitted to police he stabbed 35-year-old Chavez with a
knife, "but only after stating the victim had a plunger in his hand and
held it in a threatening way," reports show.

"At some point Campoverde claimed he pulled out his knife," a detective
wrote in his report. "Campoverde located the victim and advised that he
looked like the guy he had been having problems with."

Chavez's roommates described him as a good man who worked hard to
support his wife and six children in Mexico. One roommate said he had no
idea why Campoverde would have attacked Chavez or anyone else in the
residence, reports show.

A relative of Campoverde's told police "the devil had gotten hold of"
him, reports show. The man Campoverde asked about is a cousin who worked
with him about a year ago in construction.

Campoverde apparently resented his cousin; the suspect was fired from
his job, after the cousin reported him for using drugs, reports show.

Witnesses say Campoverde walked into the apartment about 7:10 p.m. and
asked for the man later identified as his cousin. Those in the residence
said the man had moved back to Mexico about a month earlier. Campoverde
reportedly continued walking to the back of the apartment, where he
encountered Chavez in the bathroom attempting to fix a plugged sink.

Campoverde asked about the man who once lived at the apartment.

"Chavez told him that ( the man ) was not there, that he had gone back
to Mexico," Paso Robles Sgt. Jerry Hunter wrote in his report. "Upon
hearing this, ( Campoverde ) became upset and asked Chavez in a loud
voice: 'What do you want?' "

One of Chavez's roommates yelled to the others that Campoverde had a
knife, so they ran out of the apartment. One went to a neighboring
apartment to call police. The men say while they were running they
looked back and saw Campoverde reportedly heading toward them with a
knife, reports show.

The men said they picked up sticks and boards to defend themselves,
prompting Campoverde to turn around and flee over a fence.

The men returned to the apartment, where they found Chavez on the living
room floor bleeding from a chest wound. He was dead when he arrived by
ambulance to Twin Cities Community Hospital.

Campoverde had apparently never lived at the apartment and had never
been there before the night of the killing, witnesses said. One roommate
told police he had seen Campoverde about 10 times around town, but had
never talked to him, reports state.

Through investigation, police recovered the suspected murder weapon: an
11-inch knife with a 6-inch blade. Campoverde said he found it about 20
days before the killing in a backpack on railroad tracks in Paso Robles,
reports state

Police found Campoverde running a short distance from the apartment
minutes after the alleged attack. Police said he had blood on his hand.
When asked whether he was armed, Campoverde reportedly retorted: "Hell
no, I don't know nothin'."

Danna Dykstra covers criminal justice issues for the Telegram-Tribune.
Story ideas and news tips can be e-mailed to her at
ddykstra@telegram-tribune.com.

Checked-by: Rolf Ernst