Avondale man accused of killing wife says he 'blacked out' during shooting, police say

Jose Chagnon, 53, was arrested by Avondale police on Tuesday on suspicion of killing his wife and barricading himself in his home.

On May 30, at around 2:14 p.m., officers responded to the area of 119th Lane and Bellemont Drive for reports of shots fired and a woman screaming.

According to court documents, a witness identified by police said he had heard multiple gunshots and proceeded to look out of his second-story bedroom window. When he did, he saw Chagnon chasing a woman, later identified as Chagnon's 29-year-old wife.

A second witness, also in their second-story bedroom, said they had heard three to four gunshots and saw the woman running toward his house with Chagnon chasing her. The two then entered the witness' front walkway, going out of his view, before he heard a single gunshot and saw Chagnon run back toward his house, according to court documents.

As Chagnon did, the witness went downstairs to check on the woman who was slumped over by his front door, unresponsive, court documents state.

An Avondale patrol officer arrived at the scene and saw Chagnon standing in the doorway of his house. The officer asked Chagnon to exit his doorway, but Chagnon refused, telling the officer he'd rather kill himself, according to court documents.

Chagnon then re-entered his house and other responding officers went to provide aid to the woman. Court documents state that fire personnel took her from the witness's front door, triaged her and transported her to the hospital where she was later pronounced dead.

Police were negotiating with Chagnon as he was inside his home when he admitted to killing his wife, police say. Chagnon also told officers he had contacted family and friends, who told him to turn himself in.

Chagnon eventually surrendered after about forty minutes, according to court documents, and was taken into custody.

Chagnon was later interviewed and told investigators that he and his wife had gotten into an argument a few hours prior to the death at the community pool.

The argument spilled over until the two returned to Chagnon's home, where he became upset and punched his wife in the face, court documents state.

While upstairs, Chagnon grabbed his gun from his nightstand drawer and shot one time to "scare" her, court documents state. At this time, Chagnon's ex-girlfriend was on a FaceTime call with him in which she told officers that she could see Chagnon's room as well as his wife begging to see her son, according to court documents. It is unclear where the son was at the time of the shooting.

According to court documents, Chagnon's ex said it appeared as though he was not letting his wife leave the room. The FaceTime then ended after a gunshot was heard, and she called 911 to report the incident.

Chagnon corroborated the story, saying his ex would not lie to police about what she saw, records say.

He agreed that he had most likely pointed the handgun at his wife while in the bedroom, court documents state. Chagnon said during the interview he had "blacked out" during part of the incident because he was so upset. The lack of memory led to his statements and he said he was unable to recall how the two ended up outside, how many times he had shot her and didn't remember entering his neighbors' property, documents state. According to court documents, Chagnon knew he had shot his wife at least once because she had turned to him and said she had been shot.

Chagnon told investigators that he was the only one outside arguing with his wife and "if the victim was shot and had died, he must have done it," court documents state.

Chagnon did remember going back to his house and seeing police arrive, as well as snorting meth and contemplating suicide, according to court documents.

With memory returning, Chagnon told investigators that he had left his handgun on the kitchen counter and that he knew he was not allowed to have one due to a previous felony conviction.

A search warrant served at Chagnon's home produced the handgun and one spent casing in the master bedroom, seven in his driveway and one in the front walkway of his neighbor's residence where his wife was found dead, court documents state.

Chagnon was ultimately booked into jail on several charges including one count of first-degree murder, one count of kidnapping, one count of endangerment and two counts of aggravated assault.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Jose Chagnon arrested in the Arizona shooting death of his wife