St Paul man sentenced for part in deadly funeral home gunfight

Nick Ferraro, Pioneer Press
·4 min read

A St. Paul has been sentenced to 27 months in prison for shooting and wounding another man during a deadly gun battle outside a West Side St. Paul funeral home last year.

David Nicholas Garcia, 41, pleaded guilty in December to second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon in connection with the shooting at Simple Traditions by Bradshaw funeral home.

The sentence by Ramsey County District Judge Adam Yang on Monday was a downward durational departure from state sentencing guidelines. Garcia had faced up to 36 months in prison as part of his plea agreement with the prosecution. He was given credit for 313 days already served in custody.

The shooting, which claimed the life of 28-year-old Agustin Martinez of Crystal, happened as mourners were gathered for the funeral for Casanova Carter. Carter, 26, was fatally shot at his West Side home three weeks earlier. He was a member of the Latin Kings gang, according to police.

The man who Garcia shot and wounded, Bryan Lara-Saavedra, 26, of Minneapolis, faces the same charge, as do two other alleged gunmen: Jesus Hernandez, 22, of South St. Paul, and Mario Alberto Vega, 31, of St. Paul.

Murder charges have not been filed in Martinez’s death. A spokesperson for the Ramsey County attorney’s office said at the time charges were filed against the four men that they were “at the highest level possible that we felt could be sustained at trial given the evidence provided to us from law enforcement.”

Garcia’s attorney Thomas Sieben had asked the judge to give his client probation instead of prison time, arguing in court documents that evidence showed Lara-Saavedra fired the first shot during a fist fight outside the funeral home. Garcia, who was not part of the fight, returned fire “to protect himself and other innocent bystanders,” Sieben said.

Court records show Garcia was on supervised probation relating to a murder conviction in a St. Paul case 25 years earlier.

Bullet casings ‘all over’

According to the criminal complaint against Garcia, officers were sent to the Feb. 21 shooting at Simple Traditions by Bradshaw funeral home at 488 Humboldt Ave. around 11:20 a.m.

Martinez was wounded and lying on a sidewalk. He died at Regions Hospital of a single gunshot wound to his back.

Lara-Saavedra had gunshot wounds to his stomach and right leg. Several other men who were at the funeral home were transported to Regions with gunshot wounds.

Houses and vehicles in the area were struck by bullets and officers recovered bullet casings “all over the area,” the charges read.

Surveillance video shows a fistfight on the sidewalk in front of the funeral home. Martinez was involved in the fight, but he eventually walked away out of camera view, according to the charges.

Lara-Saavedra then pulled out a gun and shot a 36-year-old man in the neck, the charges allege. People scattered when the gun was fired, with some running back to the funeral home and others fleeing in the same direction as Martinez.

Garcia was seen at the entrance to the funeral home firing numerous rounds from a handgun in the direction of Martinez. Garcia then went into the funeral home.

Hernandez stood in the boulevard and allegedly fired in the direction that Martinez and others had run. Vega came out of the funeral home and fired in the same direction, the charges allege.

Past murder conviction

In October 1999, at age 17, Garcia was convicted of second-degree intentional murder for the fatal shooting of Richard Wiggins, an 18-year-old Arlington High School senior, two years earlier. Garcia was 15 at the time of the shooting, and prosecutors charged him as an adult.

A judge sentenced him to 25½ years in prison. He was released from prison in March 2020 and put on supervised probation until July 27, 2024, court records show.

The conviction makes him ineligible to possess firearms or ammunition. When Garcia was arrested in April at a West Side home, officers recovered three firearms. He also faced two counts of possession of a firearm by an ineligible person, but those charges were dismissed as part of his plea agreement.

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