Who is Oscar Garcia? Texas man who killed stranger, 37, he mistook as thief gets 35-year prison term
HARRIS COUNTY, TEXAS: A Texas auto shop owner, who killed an innocent man he mistakenly accused of stealing before evading justice by fleeing to his native El Salvador, has been sentenced to 35 years in prison. Oscar Aristides Garcia, 35, was given the sentence last Wednesday after pleading guilty to the murder of Nicolas Bautista, 37, in October 2018.
“A man who intentionally kills an innocent stranger and then does everything he can to cover up his crime and run from accountability deserves to spend decades in prison for the pain he caused,” Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said in a statement. Prosecutors argued that Garcia be sentenced to 50 years in prison. However, Garcia’s defense team argued for 15 years, the New York Post reported.
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Investigators claim that on October 28, 2018, Garcia was in his Pasadena, Texas, transmission-repair business when he noticed Bautista and his girlfriend walking by. The couple was traveling to a restaurant for brunch on Sunday. “Garcia mistakenly believed Bautista was a man Garcia thought was stealing pickup tailgates from the shop,” the DA’s office stated as per the outlet.
Although Bautista had been never implicated in any theft case, Garcia followed the 37-year-old and his girlfriend in a truck and carried a shotgun with him. However, the couple had to move to another eatery as the one near Bautista's shop was closed. They took an Uber and Gracia followed them, the prosecutors said.
After finishing their meal, the couple took another Uber home and Garcia continued to pursue them all the way to their address on Wafer Street in Pasadena. There, Garcia got out of the truck and started to argue with Bautista in Spanish — a language the other man did not speak. Bautista’s girlfriend, who knew Spanish, told Garcia that he was mistaken.
When Bautista turned around and walked away to call the police, Garcia shot him in the back, prosecutors said. He was pronounced dead at a hospital a short time later. Garcia also pointed the rifle at Bautista’s girlfriend and pulled the trigger, but the weapon did not fire, the outlet mentioned, citing court records.
Who is Oscar Garcia?
Garcia later closed shut his repair shop business and fled to El Salvador, leaving behind his pregnant wife and his three children. Later, the family traveled to join him. He returned to the US after more than two years in hiding where the US Marshals Service apprehended him.
Before returning to his shop and destroying his security camera's recording device, Gracia picked up the shell casing and asked another mechanic to store his truck in his garage. He also destroyed a camera in the nearby taqueria which captured him following Bautista.
“He [Bautista] was a loved son, a loved brother, and a loved boyfriend. He worked hard and is remembered very fondly, and they’re glad they finally got justice,” assistant district attorney Ryan Volkmer, who prosecuted the case, said.