On the night of July 10, 2021, a violent altercation inside a Salem, Oregon bar ended the life of 27-year-old Hispanic male, Jose Pablo Arrevalo. The incident occurred at Woody's Cantina on Hawthorne Avenue N.E., where Arrevalo and another man, Erlin Adonay Rivas-Lopez, 29, were fatally shot. When Salem police officers arrived at the chaotic scene, people were fleeing the establishment.
Inside, they discovered one victim already deceased and another gravely wounded who later died after being transported to Salem Health.
The investigation into the double homicide led police to identify Nivardo Ramirez-Monge, then 23, as the suspect. Believing he had fled the state, investigators tracked him to Nevada, where he was arrested ten days after the shooting in Tonopah. Ramirez-Monge, a resident of Lafayette in Yamhill County, was extradited to Oregon to face charges.
Court proceedings revealed that the deadly encounter began earlier in the evening when Ramirez-Monge was struck on the head with a bottle by a stranger for no apparent reason. Later, he went to the restroom to find a relative so they could leave the bar. While in the bathroom, he got into an altercation with Arrevalo, who was at a urinal. Witnesses stated that Arrevalo turned toward Ramirez-Monge, who then pulled out a gun and fired multiple shots. Arrevalo was struck four times. Rivas-Lopez, who was in a stall and not involved in the dispute, was hit by a single bullet. Both men died from their gunshot wounds.
Initially indicted on two counts of first-degree murder in July 2021, Nivardo Ramirez-Monge later pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree manslaughter on October 6, 2023. The amended charge indicated that he did not intend to kill the victims but acted "recklessly, under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life." On November 17, 2023, a Marion County Circuit Court judge sentenced Ramirez-Monge to 20 years in prison, with three years of post-prison supervision.
