On August 30, 2016, 28-year-old Augustine Vigil was one of two victims in a double homicide at Cesar Chavez Park in Oakland's Fruitvale district. The incident occurred late in the evening, and both Vigil and the second victim, Shawn Chatman, were found at the scene with fatal gunshot wounds. The park was under surveillance, but the cameras present were reportedly not functioning during the time of the shooting.
The prosecution portrayed Vigil's death as part of an unprovoked shooting.
David Vigil, who was implicated in the double homicide, was said to have approached the victims while they were sitting in their car and opened fire without provocation. Both victims were simply eating pizza and smoking marijuana at the time of the attack. The defense, however, argued that the shooting was in self-defense, with David Vigil’s lawyer contending that the victims had drawn a weapon first, leaving him with no choice but to respond to protect himself.
The incident led to a complex legal battle, with the defense claiming that David Vigil's actions were purely a reaction to the threat posed by the victims. Despite the defense's efforts to prove his innocence, the prosecution maintained that David Vigil had no legitimate reason for being in the area, and the sequence of events did not align with a self-defense scenario. The prosecutor also highlighted Vigil’s attempts to mislead law enforcement after the shooting, adding a layer of distrust to his claims of self-defense.
