Victor Dominguez Claims Self-Defense in Deadly Beaumont Shooting: "No Other Way Out," Atty Says

A well-known Beaumont activist and former city council candidate who was arrested on suspicion of murder in the deadly shooting of a local man is speaking out, through his attorney.

Victor Dominguez, 42, was arrested on suspicion of murder a day after 40-year-old Mario Lara was shot to death on April 21. Beaumont police found the suspect in Imperial County and made the arrest, taking him to the Banning jail. However, two days later, the district attorney’s office declined to file charges, and Dominguez was released.

• Victor Dominguez Released From Jail; No Charges Filed in Beaumont Killing
• Beaumont Activist Victor Dominguez Arrested for Murder
• Police: Man Shot to Death in Beaumont, Murder Investigation Underway

“The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office elected not to file charges at this time,” Beaumont Police Cmdr. Sean Thuilliez said following Dominguez’s release. “We will be conducting further investigation.”

Dominguez-- who does not deny pulling the trigger-- contends the whole situation boils down to self-defense, according to his attorney Dan Greenberg, of the Riverside law firm Greenberg & Greenberg.

Now, it’s Greenberg’s belief that police will find out Dominguez acted out of fear for his life when he killed Lara.

“There was no other way out for him,” Greenberg told Patch by telephone on Friday. “We are hopeful that when the investigation is completed by law enforcement that their conclusion is the same as ours.”

According to police, the shooting happened on the morning of April 21 at Empire Towing, in the area of Grace Avenue and 4th Street.

“When [police] arrived, they found a man laying in an alleyway suffering from gunshot wounds,” Thuilliez said in a news release. “Paramedics from Cal-Fire and AMR responded and the victim was transported to a local area hospital where he was pronounced deceased at 11:26 a.m.”

The nature of the confrontation between the two men prior to the shooting is not being made public at this time. However, Greenberg claims that Lara “...snuck up on Victor and knocked him to the ground and started firing.”

“Fortunately Victor was able to reach for his own gun and fire back,” Greenberg said.

When asked why Dominguez had a gun with him in the first place, Greenberg said he can’t comment either way, but that it was legally registered to Dominguez.

“After the incident, Mr. Lara [ran] out of the way and out of view of my client,” the attorney said, adding that Dominguez did not know Lara’s injuries were fatal. “My client was in fear of his life still, and he wanted to go someplace where he could be safe...”

Dominguez ended up in Holtville in imperial County to “seek sanctuary,” where he has family, according to the attorney. That town is just miles from the US-Mexico border.

“He wasn’t running from law enforcement… he was running from retaliation,” Greenberg said. “He had plenty of opportunity to leave and run if that was his intent, to get away and across the border.”

The attorney said Dominguez is “saddened” by the way things ended up.

“He and his family are saddened that somebody lost his life because of his actions,” he said.

Patch reached out to Beaumont Police to see if they are looking into the self-defense argument of the case, but they said they cannot comment at this time, since it’s an active investigation.