A federal prison employee was captured in Mexico and returned to the U.S. to face murder charges for allegedly shooting and killing a man and wounding another person outside a Van Nuys bar, police said.
The suspect, Marco Antonio Garcia, is believed to be a Long Beach-area resident, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. The dead victim was identified by the coroner's office as Julio Rodriguez, 33, whose hometown was not known.
Garcia was already at a bar with another male late Sunday night in the 15200 block of Victory Boulevard, near Sepulveda Boulevard, when the victims arrived, the LAPD reported.
"The suspect approached the victims outside of the bar, produced a handgun and fired multiple rounds," according to a police statement. Rodriguez and his companion were struck and Rodriguez was pronounced dead at the scene. The other victim was treated at a hospital and released, police said.
Garcia and the male he was with both fled west on Victory Boulevard. Witnesses said the suspect didn't speak with the victims before opening fire "and investigators still do not know the motive for the shooting," according to the LAPD.
"Garcia, who is believed to be a Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons employee, immediately fled to Mexico, where he was apprehended by Mexican officials," police said.
"Detectives, working jointly with the FBI, obtained an arrest warrant for Garcia and the FBI-LAPD Fugitive Task Force through a deportation successfully brought Garcia back to Los Angeles where he will now face murder charges."
U.S. & World
Garcia was being held at the Valley Jail in Van Nuys in lieu of $5 million bail, according to sheriff's inmate records.
