LUBBOCK, Texas — A family held a candle light vigil for George “Thomas” Garcia,” who was killed over the weekend.
A murder warrant on Monday gave more details on how an altercation in the backseat of a pickup truck led to the deadly shooting of George “Thomas” Garcia Jr., 36.
Just before midnight on Saturday, Lubbock Police responded to the 1100 block of South Loop 289 in reference to a shooting, the warrant states.
When officers arrived on scene, Garcia’s common law wife, Valerie Castillo, was at the scene of the shooting.
In a statement to detectives from the Lubbock Metropolitan Special Crimes Unit, she said her father, Sammy Castillo, her brother, Adrian Castillo, her sister-in-law, Andrea Castillo and Garcia went to Fast Eddie’s at South Loop and University Avenue, the warrant states.
She said they all left together in Adrian Castillo’s red Chevrolet pickup when she “began to argue with her father and Garcia got involved.” She then said “Garcia and Sammy Castillo began to assault each other in the back seat,” according to the warrant.
Then, she said Adrian Castillo “stopped the truck and fired one round from a handgun out the driver’s window in the air.” Then, he told Garcia “to stop fighting or he would shoot him,” the warrant states.
When Garcia and Sammy Castillo did not stop fighting, Adrian Castillo shot Garcia. The warrant then states that when Garcia got out of the truck, he “eventually collapsed from his wound.”
Then, detectives took a sworn statement from Adrian Castillo stating “he knew Garcia, his father and his sister were fighting in the back seat.” He also said he “did not know what it was about or who was hitting who” and that he “always carries a gun with him.”
He told detectives, “he stopped the truck and fired the gun in the air out to window to try to make them stop,” according to the warrant.
When the fighting did not stop, Adrian Castillo said “he shot Garcia in the torso.” Then, he said “Garcia got out of the truck and then they left and drove home,” the warrant states.
Adrian Castillo remained at the Lubbock County Detention Center Monday booked on a charge of murder with a bond set at $200,000.