Friend trying to disarm unwanted guest holding baby 'in the path of being shot' gets fatally gunned down outside residence: Cops

A Nebraska man is behind bars after he kept his daughter in his arms while shooting and killing another man from Texas while they were all recently in Idaho, according to law enforcement in the Gem State.

Tristin John Chase, 22, stands accused of one count of second-degree murder in connection with the violence that took the life of 43-year-old Rafael Valles, according to the Rigby Police Department.

The underlying incident occurred on the afternoon of Sunday, Aug. 23, outside a residence on Ashlynn Way in Rigby, a small town located some 15 miles northeast of Idaho Falls.

On the afternoon in question, officers were called in response to a report about a man shot in the head, according to court documents obtained by East Idaho News and a courtroom report by Idaho Falls-based ABC, CBS, The CW Plus and Telemundo affiliate KIFI.

Responding officers found one woman at the residence crying while holding a child and another woman performing CPR on the victim, police said. The officers asked where the gun was and both women allegedly replied, "He took it with him," according to the charging document.

Both women also allegedly identified Chase as the shooter.

There was a pool of blood forming under Valles' neck, so law enforcement took over lifesaving measures, police said, but the victim was eventually pronounced dead at the scene.

Amid the lifesaving efforts, however, the defendant allegedly called one of the women at the crime scene, police said. That woman then passed the cellphone to a Jefferson County Sheriff's Office deputy.

The defendant allegedly told law enforcement the following:

He ran up on me while I was holding my daughter. I was holding her outside just fine, and he came up on me, and I told him ten times to stay back, and he kept coming up, and he kept coming up, and he kept coming up, and I told him to stay away, stay away. He kept f—ing coming, he kept coming, and I went inside the house, and he kicked the door open, and he hit me with the door, and he tried punching me in the face.

The deputy then asked Chase where he was, authorities say. The defendant allegedly replied he was "freaking out" and driving around so as to catch his breath. Chase said he was going to continue driving for a while, police said. He also asked about the state of the little girl and the deputy said she was OK, according to law enforcement.

Later, the defendant allegedly asked about Valles — and whether the victim had actually been shot, police said.

"I didn't even f—ing mean to shoot, I don't even know how my gun shot," Chase allegedly told the deputy.

After some silence, the defendant hung up, police said.

Then Chase called back and allegedly told the deputy he "didn't mean for this to happen and had told" the victim "to go away multiple times," according to the charging document.

Investigators later looked at text messages sent to one of the women in which the defendant allegedly threatened Valles.

The woman would go on to tell investigators that Chase had been at the house — unwanted — the night before and would not leave, according to law enforcement. Then, in the morning, when he went to get milk for his daughter, the women initially locked the defendant out, but ultimately relented and let him back inside, police said.

Meanwhile, the victim was aware of the situation and had not heard from one of the women for two hours, so he went to the house to check on things, according to law enforcement.

In the front yard that morning, the two men argued, police said.

The shooting occurred when Chase removed a gun from his waistband while holding his daughter, one of the women said. The woman explained the child was "in the path of being shot," so Valles tried to disarm the defendant when two shots rang out, according to the charging document.

"You have a gun?" one of the women shouted after the fact, police said. The woman then took hold of the little girl as Chase fled.

In audio from a Ring camera at the house, someone shouts "call 911!" while a woman clearly says: "Mom, he's dead," police said.

Just before 1 p.m., Chase was arrested during a traffic stop.

The defendant is detained in the Jefferson County Jail on $750,000 bond. He is next slated to appear in court on Sept. 3.