2 indicted in roadside robbery, shooting death of man

By Dave Toplikar

Monday, May 7, 2012 | 11:24 a.m.

A Clark County grand jury has indicted two men on murder charges in the April 17 shooting death of Manuel Torres-Garcia, whom police allege the men shot in a robbery to get money on their way to buy methamphetamine.

Carlos Humberto Garcia and Carlos Vargas have been charged with conspiracy to commit robbery, two counts of robbery with the use of a deadly weapon and murder with the use of a deadly weapon.

Vargas, 22, and Garcia, 30, had both been scheduled to have preliminary hearings Monday morning in Las Vegas Justice Court. But the grand jury indictment moves the matter forward to District Court.

Vargas and Garcia will be arraigned at 9 a.m. Thursday before Judge Douglas Herndon. They are being held without bail in the Clark County Detention Center.

The men are accused of shooting Torres-Garcia in the neck during a robbery about 7 a.m. April 17 in the 3300 block of Vista Del Monte Drive, a street in a mobile home community near Desert Inn Road and Nellis Boulevard.

According to a police report, the incident began about 6:30 a.m., when Garcia, his wife, Jennifer Garcia, and Vargas decided to go drive to buy some methamphetamine.

As they drove to the place they usually went to buy the drugs, both of the men said they didn’t have any money to pay the dealer, so they began talking about “robbing a store or something,” Jennifer Garcia told police. She told police her husband said they were just kidding.

After passing the drug dealer’s location, they continued driving in a neighborhood near Nellis and Desert Inn where they saw two Hispanic men standing on the side of the road, the police report said.

The report said the two men then turned around at a bend in the road and stopped. Garcia got a shotgun from the trunk while Vargas got a BB pistol ready to use and put a dark-colored bandana over his face, the report said.

Carlos Garcia then drove up behind Torres-Garcia and another man, Trejo-Hernandez, the police report said. Both Vargas and Garcia approached the men, with Garcia carrying the shotgun, police said.

Jennifer Garcia told police she heard them tell the other two men to give them their wallets. She then saw Torres-Garcia move, heard a gunshot and saw Torres-Garcia fall to the ground, the police report said.

Garcia and Vargas ran back to the car, threw the guns in the back seat and Garcia drove south away from the scene, the police report said.