The man shot and killed by a sheriff's SWAT team in Beaumont following a domestic disturbance call allegedly had ties to an infamous gang, and had been convicted of making criminal threats against former Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco, he confirms to Banning-Beaumont Patch.
Pacheco says that he received word Tuesday that it was the same 38-year-old Chandler Cardwell who was killed in Monday's incident, who had threatened his life in 2007.
"I was told this morning that it was the same guy," Pacheco told Patch in a telephone interview Tuesday night. “We knew he was dangerous back when; he threatened to kill me and my family and knowing the sheriff’s department as I do, I’m sure... [shooting him] was the only solution."
Pacheco says that Cardwell had threatened him by placing a false advertisement in the Press Enterprise, which called for an estate sale at his home, saying "everything must go," to contribute to the "Rod Pacheco Memorial Fund," alluding to the then-District Attorney and his family.
In that ad, his personal cell phone number and home address were given to the public. According to Pacheco and the Press Enterprise, Cardwell was an employee of the paper at the time.
"It was clear when I read it that it was a threat," Pacheco told Patch. "Here I was enforcing the laws against his gang … and they were threatening me."
Pacheco says Cardwell's brother-in-law was a key player in the East Side Rivas gang, whom the DA's office was going after under Pacheco's direction.
"If you were a member of East Side Rivas, we took particular attention to your case," he said.
According to the Press Enterprise, "Cardwell's attorney said he placed the advertisement in frustration because he was concerned the gang crackdown would target innocent people."
Online court records from the Riverside County Superior Court indicate that a man by the name of Chandler Cardwell was found guilty of making criminal threats stemming from an Aug. 24, 2007 incident.
He pleaded guilty to the crime, according to records. Pacheco says the man was sentenced to three years in prison, but served only "a fraction of that time."
The Riverside County District Attorney's office could not confirm the connection on their end, as the case was prosecuted by the attorney general's office, according to spokesman John Hall.
