Two Corpus Christi men looking for a fugitive Tuesday in Greenville, Texas, near Dallas, died in a shootout with the suspect inside the showroom of a Nissan dealership.
54-year-old Fidel Garcia, Jr. and 33-year-old Gabriel Bernal work for F.N.G. Security and Investigations our of Corpus Christi. The two were hired by Stew Peters of U.S. Fugitive Recovery & Extradition to track down 49-year-old Ramon Michael Hutchinson, aka Raymond Hutchinson, a man wanted for failure to appear on a first degree drug charge from the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office in Minneapolis.
At around 7:10 p.m. Tuesday, Garcia and Bernal entered the Nissan dealership waiting for Hutchinson, who later arrived with a Nissan employee and entered an office inside the dealership.
According to police, Garcia and Bernal approached Hutchinson in the office and drew their weapons while issuing commands. Hutchinson tried to pull a gun from his waistband but dropped it on a desk. A struggle ensued, during which Hutchinson managed to retreive his gun and opened fire. Garcia and Bernal fired back.
Police said about 20 shots were fired in the span of six seconds. All three subjects here shot multiple times and died at the scene.
Police released audio of the calls made to 911 during the incident, included a call from a woman hiding in the bathroom, saying she heard several gunshots and screaming. According to our sister station in Dallas, the gunfight happened in front of Nissan employees and customers, including children.
Garcia served on the board of the Texas Association of Licensed Investigators. They released a statement Wednesday morning.
"We are saddened to hear of the loss of Fidel Garcia, Jr., a 20 + year investigator and a Texas Association of Licensed Investigator's ("TALI") board member. Fidel was a consummate professional and well respected. The Association has reached out to his family and will provide assistance during this hard time. TALI is an association of licensed investigators in the state of Texas," TALI President Brad Smith said in a statement.
3News spoke to Stew Peters, owner of United States Fugitive Recovery & Extradition. Peters told 3News that he has been working with Garcia for more than a decade and contacts Garcia whenever they are looking for a fugitive in Texas.
"He felt like there was a high probability that the defendant would be at that location at some point throughout the day, and as he normally is, Mr. Garcia's intuitions were right," Peters said.