Suspect Says Jockey’s Death An Accident Julio Castaneda Insists Brother Didn’t Intend To Shoot Rivas

Ruben Rivas, a former Playfair jockey, was accidentally shot to death last week by a childhood friend, the friend’s brother said Sunday.

Hector H. Castaneda, 36, and Julio C. Castaneda, 34, were arrested early Tuesday in the home they had shared with Rivas, 29, for about three weeks. They were charged Friday with second-degree murder.

On Sunday evening in the Spokane County Jail, Julio Castaneda said Rivas was shot in the early afternoon Oct. 15 in the living room of their home, 2102 E. Pacific. Hector Castaneda, also still in jail, declined to comment.

Rivas allegedly tried to grab a gun away from Hector Castaneda, when the pistol fired, hitting Rivas in the right side of his chest, Julio Castaneda said.

“It hurts,” he said. “I get nightmares at night. Sometimes, what is killing me inside, is what if it (the wound) wasn’t mortal? What if we were able to save him by just making a phone call?”

They didn’t call police. Instead, Rivas’ body was moved into a bedroom, Julio Castaneda said. He said he didn’t help move the body and has no idea how it was disposed of.

Julio Castaneda said he was scared after the shooting and told two friends about it.

Those friends apparently called police, Julio Castaneda said.

A body fished out of the Spokane River early Saturday is probably that of Rivas, police said. An autopsy might be done today.

When the shooting happened, the roommates were starting to clean the house and drink some beers. Julio Castaneda was cleaning the living room. Rivas was cooking fish soup. Rivas, the Castanedas and another friend sat in the living room.

Julio Castaneda had bought a pistol from a friend the day before, and Hector Castaneda looked at it. The pistol wasn’t registered, Julio Castaneda said.

Rivas sat on another couch, diagonally across from Hector Castaneda, Julio Castaneda said. He said he was talking on the telephone. His brother allegedly was pointing the pistol across the room, sighting it.

Rivas reportedly said, “Let me see it,” in Spanish and reached for the gun. That’s when it fired, Julio Castaneda said.

“We were not enemies,” Julio Castaneda said. “We were not trying to kill him.”

Police spokesman Dick Cottam said Sunday it is not yet known whether Rivas was shot to death. It’s also uncertain whether a bullet wound was discovered on the body pulled from the river.

Rivas and the Castanedas met about 17 years ago in Los Angeles. Hector Castaneda and another older brother both married Rivas’ sisters.

Rivas moved to San Francisco, and then to Spokane in the early 1980s, friends said. He was a jockey for several years at Playfair Race Course, until he fractured his leg in a fall. Rivas hoped to become a jockey again. He had exercised horses for several trainers in town, and this summer exercised horses in Yakima, friends said.

Rivas moved back to Spokane about three weeks ago after spending time with his mother in Mount Vernon, Wash.

Julio Castaneda said he offered Rivas a place to stay and a lead on a job at Alloy Trailers, where he was hired.

Julio Castaneda said he and his brother are welders at Alloy Trailers.

When Rivas came back to Spokane, he came back to Playfair. His true love was riding horses, his friends said.

“He was a really good man on a horse,” said Playfair trainer Steve Quinones, who in the past asked Rivas to break horses.

Quinones last saw Rivas about two weeks ago, when they waved to each other across the track. On Sunday, Quinones watched Rivas’ 6-year-old son, Josh. Quinones took Josh to Playfair and showed him where his father sometimes rode horses and worked.

Later, they sat in the office of the II Moon Cafe, where Quinones is head chef and part owner. Josh scribbled faces, stars and motorcycles on a sheet of butcher paper as Quinones talked about Rivas.

They met about six years ago at Playfair, and Quinones hired him to cook at his downtown restaurant, La Leyenda, now closed.

Friends at Playfair on Sunday remembered Rivas’ salsa, and how he once brought quarts of it to the track for the jockeys and riders.

“We all enjoyed being around him,” Quinones said. “It’s just hard to believe someone could hurt him. It just doesn’t make sense.”

, DataTimes