Beating spurred fatal gang shooting in Hillsboro, prosecutor says; killer gets life

A baseball-bat beating likely prompted the fatal shooting of a Hillsboro man in a strip-mall parking lot in 2022, a Washington County prosecutor said Thursday.

Enrique Tapia-Chavez was found guilty of second-degree murder during a jury trial in April for the execution-style shooting of 40-year-old Juan J. Moncivais outside the Su Casa Super Mercado at 1050 S.E. Walnut St. in Hillsboro, just after midnight on July 11, 2022.

Surveillance footage showed Tapia-Chavez, now 34, of Scappoose, driving into the area in his girlfriend’s car, getting out and then firing a 9mm handgun at Moncivais as Moncivais turned and ran, according to prosecutors. Shots hit Moncivais multiple times in the back before Tapia-Chavez approached and delivered a final shot to the head.

“It was an act of totally extreme violence, right out in the open, in public,” said Senior Deputy District Attorney Andrew Freeman.

Tapia-Chavez was a member of the Westside 18th Street gang, according to Freeman and court documents.

It’s not clear whether Moncivais was affiliated with a gang, but authorities believe that four months before the fatal shooting he had been attacked by several men armed with bats as part of an ongoing beef.

Tapia-Chavez ditched his girlfriend’s car in St. Johns after the shooting but was arrested near her apartment in Beaverton four days later.

Circuit Judge Janelle Wiper sentenced Tapia-Chavez to life in prison, with the possibility of parole after 30 years.

—Zane Sparling covers breaking news and courts for The Oregonian/OregonLive. Reach him at 503-319-7083, zsparling@oregonian.com or @pdxzane.

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