Suspect in Edina bus stop murder should have been in jail

But you already knew that.

Although he has not yet been charged in the Thanksgiving-eve fatal stabbing at an Edina bus stop, KSTP-5 has named the 32-year-old suspect in the case. The killing occurred at a location within sight of the Southdale shopping mall.

The TV station posted this item on Twitter (X) Friday night,

As of today, Garcia is currently in custody. The Hennepin County jail roster entry for Garcia lists no fewer than ten (10) active cases, including the alleged Edina murder.

As it happens, Garcia is due in court tomorrow (Monday, Nov. 27) in Hennepin County, on a case stemming from a February 1 incident at MSP airport. Garcia is accused of bypassing security and breaking into the airport’s secured gates area.

The Airport Police report notes that at the time of the incident in February (other airport incident would occur in March and May 2023), there were four outstanding warrants against Garcia in Hennepin County and this was his sixth encounter with airport police (not including the subsequent March and May 2023 incidents). Garcia gave his address as a church in downtown Minneapolis.

He was charged with four gross misdemeanor/misdemeanor counts in the latest airport encounter and released on no bail. Garcia missed court dates in April, July, and October.

After his April missed court date, he was released with no bail in June. following an unrelated arrest for trespassing at the Mall of America (MOA). In this MOA incident report, the horse tranquilizer Xylazine is mentioned.

After his July missed court date, he was released in August on $500 bail. That release involved yet another unrelated incident, at a gas station near the airport.

It appears that he was last released from custody on October 10 and he missed a November 13 court date. His most recent missed court date was November 21, the day before the fatal stabbing.

He was still on the street on the 22nd and found himself at that bus stop on Thanksgiving-eve where he encountered Mr. Lundegaard. As discussed below, all of this happened after Garcia was already a convicted felon.

In an unrelated case, Garcia was convicted on a misdemeanor fighting charge, in Hennepin County, in August and sentenced to three (3) days in jail. As a result of his plea deal in that case, four (4) other cases were dismissed. In the fighting case, he was fined $3 (not a typo), which Garcia has not yet paid. When arrested in June by transit police, Garcia gave as his address what appears to be a detox center in Minneapolis. The address where the fighting incident occurred is a Minneapolis light rail station. Garcia skipped a hearing scheduled earlier in August in the fighting case.

In 2022, Garcia was convicted of gross misdemeanor burglary.

His Minnesota police record dates back to two 2019 cases. After two skipped court hearings, he was convicted of a misdemeanor in one case, with the other dismissed. Another misdemeanor conviction in a property damage case occurred in 2019.

In late October 2019, Garcia faced new felony charges for assaulting a police officer after an incident that began at a library at the University of Minnesota. That incident also involved an alleged stabbing. More missed court hearings, and more convictions (with a stayed sentence) followed. He was charged with three felonies in the case, but his convictions in this incident have been downgraded to misdemeanors after his “successful” three-year probation period. A media report on the U-Minn incident can be found here.

The police report mentions Garcia tested positive for Hepatitis C. An excerpt from the 2019 report,

Hypodermic needles will make repeated appearances in Garcia criminal record.

In March 2022, Garcia was charged in a felony burglary case. He pled down to a gross misdemeanor. An excerpt from that arrest report,

Records are not available to the public, but it appears that Garcia was committed for treatment for both drug dependency and mental health issues on and off over the past two years.

The system has failed Garcia and Lundegaard at every turn.

Murder charges against Garcia have now been filed.