Man accused of North County shooting, robberies pleads not guilty to attempted murder
A man suspected of shooting a Paso Robles man in the head following a series of armed robberies in Atascadero pleaded not guilty in court to attempted murder and other charges.
Carlos Luis Chavez, 20, was arraigned in San Luis Obispo Superior Court on Wednesday.
He pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder, first-degree residential burglary and being a convicted person illegally possessing a firearm, and denied a series of sentencing enhancements related to the alleged use of a firearm and causing great bodily injury to a victim.
Luis Chavez is accused of shooting 29-year-old Justin Bice in the head at Bice’s home on Dorothy Court in Paso Robles.
Bice remains in an intensive care unit at Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center in San Luis Obispo after undergoing emergency surgery, his brother told The Tribune on Wednesday. Doctors had to remove Bice’s left eye and part of his skull.
Following his plea Wednesday, Chavez will remain in San Luis Obispo County Jail with bail set at $500,000, according to jail logs.
He’s due back in court Monday for a pre-preliminary hearing.
Chavez was arrested in San Miguel on Sunday following Bice’s shooting and a string of reported robberies in Atascadero that began Saturday night when a juvenile was “robbed of his backpack and personal property at gunpoint” near Morro Road and Curbaril Avenue, Atascadero police said in a news release.
On Sunday, two other people in Atascadero reported being robbed at gunpoint, sparking a manhunt and a shelter-in-place order in a neighborhood at the south end of town.
After the second robbery report, officers responding to the scene reportedly saw the described suspect flee on foot and jump a fence into an adjacent apartment complex before escaping capture.
All three victims “described matching suspect descriptions,” the release read.
Then, at 12:55 p.m., a woman called the Paso Robles Police Department to report her husband had been shot at their home.
Police found the victim, later identified as Bice, conscious “with a gunshot wound to the side of his head,” Paso Robles police said in a news release Sunday.
Chavez was later located and arrested in San Miguel, and the suspected weapon was recovered, police said.
Authorities have not disclosed a motive for the shooting, but Bice’s brother said Wednesday that Bice and Chavez were acquaintances.
This story was originally published September 29, 2021 at 2:04 PM.
