MONDAY — A Fairmont man accused of a man in the chest last year pleaded guilty to the crime on Monday.
Judge Susan Tucker accepted 29-year-old Carlos Pagan’s plea to malicious assault in Monongalia County Circuit Court.
Pagan shot Kashif Monk in the chest and leg on December 10, 2018, according to Prosecutor Perri DeChristopher.
If the case had gone to trial, the state would have shown that Pagan went to Monk’s home to confront him over a domestic crime against his sister, DeChristopher said. An argument or fight ensued and during the fight, Monk was shot by Pagan. Monk went into Tanner’s Tavern, on Listravia Avenue and said he was shot. EMS was then called.
Monk underwent emergency surgery following the shooting.
“As she said, there was a previous altercation with him and my sister and it’s been going on for a pretty long period of time,” Pagan said when asked if DeChristopher’s version of events was true.
He said he tried not to get involved and had conversations with Monk before the night in question, which he intended to be another conversation.
“We had an altercation and it ended the way it ended up,” Pagan said.
The May 2019 grand jury indicted Pagan on charges of malicious assault and attempted murder. As part of the plea agreement, the attempted murder charge was dropped. A pre-sentence report will be compiled and Pagan will be sentenced at a later date. He faces between two and 10 years in prison.
Pagan is currently serving a prison sentence in Huttonsville Correctional Center for a parole violation. The original charge was possession with intent to distribute marijuana and he will be eligible to appear before the parole board in December, he told Tucker.
