Sister of man killed by Taylorsville officer speaks out after manslaughter charge

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Henry Chavez Jr.'s sister, Phoebe Pimentel, expressed relief and hope for justice for her brother.
It comes after the Salt Lake County district attorney charged a Taylorsville police officer with manslaughter in Chavez's death.
Officer Jimmy Jeremy Haas's family responded by emphasizing his presumption of innocence and his 12-year service record.

SALT LAKE CITY — For more than a year, the family of Henry Chavez Jr. believed they would never see criminal charges filed in the officer-involved shooting that ended his life. This week, that belief was shaken when the Salt Lake County district attorney announced a manslaughter charge against the Taylorsville police officer who shot him.

In an exclusive interview with KSL Investigators, Chavez's younger sister, Phoebe Pimentel, said she first learned about the charge the same way the public did, by reading a news article.

"Once my sister sent me that article, I was like, 'Are you serious? Is this real? Like, is this actually happening?'" Pimentel said.

Pimentel said her initial reaction was relief, after more than a year of being told her family needed to accept that no charges would ever be filed.

"I felt like Henry, like, he's going to get his justice," she said.

That relief, however, has been accompanied by anger and grief, emotions she said were reignited after spending the past year in what she described as "survival mode."

Chavez was killed on Oct. 9, 2024, during a Taylorsville City Police Department investigation into a stolen vehicle. According to charging documents released by the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office, investigators said Chavez attempted to flee in a vehicle before becoming boxed in near 3900 South and 300 West.

The district attorney's office alleges that Officer Jimmy Jeremy Haas fired his weapon through the rear window of Chavez's vehicle. According to the districtattorney, an independent expert investigator later concluded that the use of deadly force was not reasonable under the circumstances.

Henry Chavez Jr. with a child. The Chavez family is speaking out after a Taylorsville police officer was charged with manslaughter after Henry Chavez Jr.'s shooting death. (Photo: Family photo)

Following a review, prosecutors filed one count of second-degree felony manslaughter against Haas on May 14, 2026.

Pimentel said the charge does not bring her brother back, but it does something else.

"It will bring his memory back and it will show the world that he was not a criminal. He was not a bad person," she said.

She described her brother as a free spirit who "had a huge heart for everybody," someone whose presence filled rooms with laughter.

"No matter what, like, we could be mad at him. At the end of the day, we would just always end up laughing with him," she said.

In a statement released the same day the charge was announced, Officer Haas's family emphasized that a charge is not a conviction and said he is presumed innocent. It also notes Haas has served more than 12 years in law enforcement and was cleared to return to full duty by the Taylorsville City Police Department in December 2024 following an internal review.

"His actions should be judged by the totality of the circumstances he faced at that moment, not by assumptions or hindsight," the statement reads.

The district attorney's office emphasized that all defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

For Pimentel, the charge represents accountability, even if the legal process is just beginning.

"It's the fact that something is being done," she said. "That's the good part."

Have you experienced something you think just isn't right? The KSL Investigators want to help. Submit your tip at investigates@ksl.com or 385-707-6153 so we can get working for you.

Photos

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.