Eric Trevino’s arrest warrant affidavit sheds more light on the Aug. 29 fatal shooting of Fort Worth resident Tomas Garcia.
Star-Telegram illustration/Ricky Moon photo
The suspect arrested Tuesday in connection with the shooting death of a 39-year-old Fort Worth resident shot the victim with the victim’s own gun and then tried to hide the evidence, police allege in court documents.
Eric Trevino, 47, is currently being held in the Tarrant County Jail on a $340,000 bond. He faces a murder charge as well as one count of tampering with physical evidence and one count of evading arrest or detention with a vehicle.
On Aug. 29, first responders found Tomas Garcia dead inside his home at the back of the property located in the 3600 block of North Houston Street. According to Trevino’s arrest warrant affidavit, Garcia was paralyzed and had been unable to walk for 20 years.
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Police said there was a large amount of blood on the floor and signs that a violent physical fight had occurred. The victim’s cellphone had a bullet hole through the screen, according to the affidavit, and several fired cartridge casings from a pistol were lying around the room.
Investigators found a rifle on the bed and an empty box for a pistol in the floor, but were unable to locate the pistol, the affidavit states.
Garcia’s mother told detectives she’d last seen her son the previous night, and he was hanging out with his friend Eric Trevino. Surveillance footage showed Trevino leaving the victim’s house shortly before 3:30 a.m. Aug. 29. His face was covered with a gray T-shirt, according to the affidavit.
Officers located Trevino in his vehicle on Aug. 30. They tried to pull him over after he committed a traffic violation, the affidavit states, but Trevino refused to stop. Police later arrested him in south Fort Worth.
Trevino agreed to speak with homicide detectives, and told them he and Garcia had been drinking alcohol and taking Percocet pills, according to the affidavit. Garcia “flagged” Trevino with a loaded gun, according to the suspect’s statement, and Trevino tried to take it away from him.
Trevino told police that the gun went off, and he said he “reacted by head butting, punching, and repeatedly elbowing Tomas, a disabled person, in the head and face,” the affidavit states.
Garcia then told Trevino “You killed me” and “I’m dying,” according to the suspect’s statement in the affidavit. Blood was pooling on the floor under the victim, but Trevino didn’t check Garcia for other injuries or look to see where the bullet went, the affidavit states.
Trevino said he poured water on Garcia and left the house about five minutes later. He told the homicide detectives that the victim was “awake and speaking” when he left.
Trevino admitted he took Garcia’s gun, put his blood-stained clothes in a garbage bag and didn’t report the shooting, police wrote. He asked a relative to keep the gun for safekeeping, according to the affidavit.
On a Sept. 8 polygraph test, Trevino responded “no” when asked if he’d deliberately shot Garcia and whether he knew Garcia had been shot.
“The results indicated his answers were deceptive,” the affidavit states.
Trevino later admitted he and Garcia had both fired the gun inside the habitation, according to the affidavit. He still denied knowing that Garcia was shot, and said he didn’t bother checking him for injuries in spite of the blood on the floor and Garcia telling him he was dying.
Detectives learned from the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office that Garcia had been shot in the femoral artery. He also had bruising and blunt force injuries on his forehead and lip, the affidavit states, and he was missing a tooth.
“Based on my training and experience, a severe femoral injury can result in a person’s death in as little as two minutes without medical intervention,” the homicide detective wrote in the affidavit.
Garcia’s official cause and manner of death are still pending on the Medical Examiner’s website.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Harriet Ramos covers crime and other breaking news for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.