That headline doesn’t tell the story. It would take a short novel to do that.
Two days before Gustavo Garcia’s ”reign of terror”through Tulare County, he was arrested by Tulare County sheriff’s deputies for being under the influence of a controlled substance.
Deputies held Garcia at the Tulare County jail for 10 hours before releasing him back to the public, according to Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux.
Less than 48 hours later, Garcia would go on a rampage through Tulare County that left three dead, including Garcia, and at least seven hospitalized. He’s accused of racking up a dozen crimes in 24 hours.
While he urged Walmart customers to buy bullets for him, he ultimately took matters into his own hands 30 minutes before the deadly crime spree, according to Tulare police. Officers said Garcia stole 300 9mm bullets from Walmart before gunning down two and shooting several others.
Before Garcia’s release, ICE officials alerted deputies that Garcia was a criminal with a violent past who had been deported once in 2004 and again in 2014. Garcia served 27 months in a federal prison between deportations for illegally reentering the country.
ICE agents issued an immigration hold against Garcia on Friday, following his arrest. The hold was not honored, however, and Garcia was released later that day, unbeknownst to ICE.
“This is an unfortunate and extremely tragic example of how public safety is impacted with laws or policies limiting local law enforcement agencies’ ability to cooperate with ICE,” the federal agency said in a statement.
Boudreaux agreed with ICE agents.
“The Tulare County Sheriff’s Office is equally as frustrated with this situation,” Boudreaux said. “Because of California law, detainers can no longer be recognized by local law enforcement.”
Jerry Brown has more blood on his hands. Nothing will top Jim Jones. But it’s enough to keep any man with a soul up at night. The details of this, the proximity of the release to the crime spree should make this a poster boy for building the Wall.
A man who went on a deadly shooting, carjacking and robbery rampage in California’s Central Valley died Monday during a high-speed highway chase during which he intentionally tried to smash into other cars, authorities said.
Gustavo Garcia, 36, of Visalia was pronounced dead at the scene Monday morning on State Route 65 in Porterville after he was flung from a stolen truck after a gun battle with police and wrong-way car crashes that left four people injured, one critically, police said.
In attacks on apparently random strangers, Garcia also killed a man at a gas station convenience store, shot and wounded a farmworker in an orchard and a woman at a motel, carjacked other farmworkers and robbed a convenience store at gunpoint, Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux said.
He also fired shots in the backyard of his ex-girlfriend’s Visalia home as she and her children were inside and may have committed as many as a dozen crimes during a “rampage” that began Sunday afternoon, he said.
The rampage began around 1 p.m. Sunday in Exeter when Garcia shot a farmworker who was picking fruit, police said. He was expected to recover.
Minutes later, Garcia robbed a convenience store. Surveillance video showed Garcia firing shots at the ceiling and demanding more than $2,000 in cash, the Fresno Bee reported.
A second man who had been a passenger in Garcia’s car was being sought as a person of interest in the holdup, police said.
At about 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Garcia shot a Motel 6 guest in the arm and chest in Tulare, although her wounds weren’t life-threatening, authorities said.
“She had made eye contact with the subject and he had followed her to her parking spot, where he got out of the car and for an unbeknownst reason began firing at her vehicle,” Tulare interim Police Chief Matt Machado said.
Shortly before 1:30 a.m. Monday, Garcia fired shots into a Shell gas station in the Pixley area, then about an hour later, he killed Rocky Paul Jones, 51, of Visalia outside the Arco AMPM in that city, Visalia Police Chief Jason Salazar said.
Garcia ran into an orchard where he stole a truck at gunpoint from three farmworkers and led authorities in a chase that reached 100 mph (161 kph) on State Route 65, where Garcia drove the wrong way in traffic and seemed intent on trying to hit other cars, California Highway Patrol Lt. Scott Goddard said.
Garcia died after smashing into four cars, leaving one driver in critical condition and the other three with minor injuries, Goddard said.
He “had no regard for human life,” Boudreaux said.
Something he has in common with Jerry Brown and sanctuary state supporters.
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