Murder case bound over to Graham County Superior Court
By Jon Johnson
SAFFORD – Cold blooded, premeditated murder or justified self-defense homicide, the case of the shooting death of Jared Michael Garcia, 35, by Salih Abdul-Haqq Zaid, 39, of Thatcher, will now be heard in Graham County Superior Court.
Jon Johnson Photo/Gila Valley Central: Salih Abdul-Haqq Zaid stares blankly ahead as he makes his way into court.
Zaid stared blankly forward as he walked past the family of Garcia on his way into his preliminary hearing in front of Justice of the Peace District 1 Judge Gary Griffith on Wednesday. The court heard testimony from Safford detective Bill Wren about how the incident occurred outside the Bull Pen bar at 912 W. Thatcher Blvd. in the fateful early morning hours of April 26 and ruled there was sufficient evidence to bind the matter over to Superior Court. Zaid remains in custody on a $1 million bond on the charges of murder in the first degree and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He is set to have his arraignment May 16 at 1:30 p.m.
Judge Griffith disallowed the use of photography or video inside the courtroom and also barred any civilian witnesses from the proceeding at the behest of Zaid’s defense attorney, Dennis McCarthy.
According to Wren’s testimony of witness statements to police, Zaid was jovial and appeared to be drinking with Garcia and two other men, identified as Joseph Rodriguez and Ryan Casillas, when a confrontation occurred and Garcia struck Zaid in his face, knocking him off his bar stool. Zaid was later overheard in the bathroom telling Garcia that if Garcia wanted to fight he was willing to fight as well.
Other witnesses reported Zaid had become disruptive in the bar and had spilled beer or knocked over a beer bottle. He was then escorted out of the bar, but before doing so appeared to have patched things up with Garcia and the two had shaken hands, indicating that their beef was over, according to Wren’s testimony regarding witness statements.
However, video surveillance from the Bull Pen and multiple other entities and businesses show what appears to be Zaid’s Ford F-150 pickup truck leave the parking lot of the Bull Pen and travel to his residence at the 8th Street Apartments at 3333 W. 8th St. in Thatcher. The pickup on surveillance ran the stop sign at 8th Street and 14th Avenue and a red light at 8th Street and 20th Avenue before pulling into the apartment complex. While there is no footage of the driver exiting and entering an apartment, the truck then left the complex roughly seven minutes later and was shown on various other businesses’ surveillance footage heading through the Home Depot parking lot and eastbound on U.S. Highway 70 before pulling into the Bull Pen parking lot and backing into a space on the western side of the lot. The total time the truck was gone from the bar and back was said to be roughly 20 minutes. A later search warrant of Zaid’s apartment discovered open cabinets that contained multiple variations of ammunition and firearm-related items, including a five-round magazine.
Zaid then re-entered the bar, according to witnesses, and Rodriguez and Zaid left back into the parking lot, followed roughly 30 seconds later by Casillas and Garcia.
When all four men were in the parking lot, Zaid went to his truck and allegedly said, “Come here, I want to show you something.”
Photo By Eric Burk/Gila Valley Central: Investigators examine the scene of the shooting.
Garcia approached Zaid’s truck from the rear, and Rodriguez and Casillas said they saw Zaid shoulder a rifle and shoot Garcia as Garcia put his hands up in the air and turned to run. An autopsy report from the Pima County Medical Examiner’s office showed no powder burns on Garcia’s body and that he suffered a single gunshot wound that entered his left side and exited the right side of his torso. The medical examiner said Garcia was at least three feet or more away from Zaid when he was shot.
Garcia was rushed to Mt. Graham Regional Medical Center but could not be saved and was declared deceased.
After the shooting, Zaid left the parking lot in his truck and drove by the Safford Police Department on 10th Avenue. By then, officers had already received a call about the shooting and a description of the suspect’s truck. A Safford sergeant was pulling out of the department as Zaid drove by and soon after initiated a traffic stop. At that time, the sergeant located an AK-47 rifle loaded with a 30-round magazine and a .357 revolver in Zaid’s truck.
During interrogation, Zaid allegedly readily admitted to shooting Garcia with his rifle. After learning Garcia had died, Zaid said, “I’m a (expletive deleted) murderer,” according to Wren’s testimony. Zaid then followed that up by saying, “How do I really say it’s self defense because I went back into the bar?”
Eric Burk Photo/Gila Valley Central: The shooting took place in the parking lot of the Bull Pen bar.
McCarthy called the incident a tragic situation but one that was initiated by Garcia, whom he described as a “very sizable man” roughly 6’3” and 250-270 pounds versus Zaid who is a “frail” 5’7”, McCarthy said. He then requested Judge Griffith dismiss the charges because Zaid acted in self defense.
“He was justified in defending himself,” McCarthy said. “He had an aggressive individual who was approaching him only feet away while these other two individuals are right there. Mr. Zaid was left with no other choice but to defend himself. He was about to take another beating by an enormous man.”
Graham County Chief Deputy County Attorney L. Scott Bennett countered McCarthy’s argument by saying Zaid had already squashed the beef with Garcia by shaking his hand and had left the bar and was safe at home when he decided to retrieve an AK-47, load it with a high-capacity magazine and return to the bar armed.
“The defendant went to his truck and at his truck said, ‘Come here, I want to show you something,’ and then just happened to have a gun locked and loaded and ready to fire as a completely unexpected victim walked toward him,” Bennett said. “The testimony was not that the defendant shot the victim straight through the heart as he was attacking, it was that he shot him in the side as he was turning to run.”
