Trial set for two accused of fatally shooting man in roadside robbery

By Dave Toplikar

Thursday, May 10, 2012 | 3:15 p.m.

Two men charged with fatally shooting a man during a roadside robbery last month in eastern Las Vegas will have to wait in jail for more than a year before their case goes to trial.

Carlos Humberto Garcia and Carlos Vargas have been charged in connection with the April 17 shooting death of Manuel Torres-Garcia.

Torres-Garcia was shot in the neck about 7 a.m. that day in the 3300 block of Vista Del Monte, a street in a mobile home community near Desert Inn Road and Nellis Boulevard.

Vargas, 22, and Garcia, 30, were on their way to buy some methamphetamine and realized they didn’t have any money, so decided to rob Torres-Garcia and another man he was with, according to a Metro Police report.

Vargas and Garcia were arraigned Thursday in Clark County District Court on charges of conspiracy to commit robbery, two counts of robbery with the use of a deadly weapon and murder with the use of a deadly weapon.

Judge Douglas Herndon set their trial for 10 a.m. May 20, 2013. They are being held without bail in the Clark County Detention Center.

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

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

They drove to 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 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 loud 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.