MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Two men have died after an argument devolved into a shooting on Sunday afternoon in southern Miami-Dade County, authorities confirmed.
The crime scene was in an agricultural mixed-use area in Miami-Dade’s Princeton neighborhood with greenhouses and nurseries. According to Detective Angel Rodriguez, a spokesman for the Miami-Dade Police Department, police officers responded to the area of Southwest 240th Street and Naranja Road.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue personnel also responded and declared two men dead at the scene. According to Rodriguez, detectives detained another man, identified Monday morning as 35-year-old Eric Jose Garcia, of Miami.
“The three were involved in an altercation which escalated when a firearm was produced and shots were fired,” Rodriguez wrote in an email to Local 10 News.
Rodriguez confirmed that another person fled the scene before police arrived.
Garcia faces two counts of second-degree murder.
According to his arrest report, Garcia called 911 after the shooting and told the dispatcher that he had shot two people at a plant nursery, and that they were both dead.
The victims were identified by police as Juan Miguel Menjivar, 53, and Jose Wilian Galdamez, 40.
Police said the investigation revealed that Garcia was driving his blue Ford pickup truck on a dirt road on the property when he came upon Galdamez’s white Ford pickup truck, which was parked and blocking the dirt road.
According to the report, Garcia parked behind Galdamez’s truck, where both of the victims were standing and shot both men.
Police said after being shot several times, the victims tried to run away from Garcia but he chased after them, continuing to shoot at them.
The arrest report states that Garcia was interviewed by detectives and said that he had asked Galdamez to move his truck, but he refused.
Garcia claimed that both men then approached his vehicle while each were holding a beer bottle, and Menjivar struck the hood of his truck with a bottle, authorities said.
According to the report, Garcia claimed that he started shooting because he felt both men were too close to the driver’s side door which was ajar, and he wanted to “execute them both, ensuring that they were dead.”
Police said a witness was also interviewed and claimed to have seen Garcia exiting his truck and shooting at the victims.
As of Monday morning, Garcia was being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center where his bond had yet to be set.
Detectives asked anyone with information about this or other cases to call Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.
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Local 10 News Assignment Desk Editor Mercedes Cevallos contributed to this report.