Man accused of being getaway driver in fatal West Side shooting arrested
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A man accused of being the getaway driver in a botched drug deal that ended in a fatal shooting was arrested Friday.
Jonathan Garza, 20, was charged with murder in connection with the death of 19-year-old David Rezentes. Garza is being held on $150,000 bail.
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On March 25, San Antonio police were called to a shooting in progress on the West Side in the 3300 block of El Paso Street, where they found a vehicle still running and the driver’s side door open, but no one inside.
There was a single bullet hole in the passenger side door and a baggie of what appeared to be cocaine in the passenger seat, according to an affidavit supporting Garza’s arrest.
As police were examining the car, they received a second call about an unresponsive man, later identified as Rezentes, found about a block away at the corner of Elvira and Southwest 19th streets. Rezentes was pronounced dead at the scene from a single gunshot to the torso.
Investigators later learned that Rezentes had been the passenger in the vehicle that police found on El Paso Street.
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A witness was found who said that he and Rezentes had been robbed during a drug deal, the affidavit said. The deal was set up on social media, and when they arrived, they were robbed by four men, the witness told police.
The witness said Garza was driving the getaway car.
When questioned by police, Garza initially claimed that he drove the group but that he had no prior knowledge about the robbery. However, witness statements and surveillance footage collected from the area painted a different picture and showed that Garza “operated the getaway vehicle in a coordinated effort to carry out the robbery,” the affidavit said.
taylor.pettaway@express-news.net