Vigil planned for man fatally shot by Sonoma County sheriff’s deputy

A vigil is planned Friday in Santa Rosa for David Pelaez-Chavez, the man who was fatally shot by a Sonoma County sheriff’s deputy last week.

The vigil was organized by a group of community leaders and church members, said Zeke Guzman, a Sonoma County activist.

It is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. in Old Courthouse Square.

Pelaez-Chavez, 36, of Lower Lake died Friday morning in a rural area about 12 miles east of downtown Healdsburg after sheriff’s Deputy Michael Dietrick fired three shots at him, according to Santa Rosa police, who are investigating the incident.

Dietrick and Deputy Anthony Powers were standing about 10 to 15 feet away from Pelaez-Chavez, who was holding a hammer and a garden tool shaped like a pickaxe in one hand and a rock the size of a cantaloupe in the other, police said.

In the moments before he was shot, Pelaez-Chavez “started making the motions to throw” a rock at the deputies, but the rock never left his hand, said Sgt. Chris Mahurin, a Santa Rosa Police Department spokesman.

Powers deployed a stun gun, but it was unclear whether the darts hit Pelaez-Chavez, according to Mahurin.

The deputies had followed Pelaez-Chavez into the Franz Creek bed, where the shooting happened, after a series of crimes he was suspected of committing that morning, including an attempted break-in at a home and the theft of two vehicles, according to police.

A family member has started a GoFundMe fundraiser for the cost of transporting Pelaez-Chavez’s body to Mexico for a burial.

You can reach Staff Writer Matt Pera at matthew.pera@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @Matt__Pera.