Detective: Homicide suspect was drunk on night of killings, tried to flee to Florida

The man charged in the deaths of four people in Palm Springs on the night of February 3 is back in court Monday morning at the Larson Justice Center in Indio. Testimony revealed new details about the night of victims’ deaths, including that the suspect, Jose Larin-Garcia, was drunk on the night of the shooting, and that he attempted to to flee town of a Greyhound bus to Florida.

The court appearance will reveal critical next steps in the case, specifically if there’s enough evidence to move forward with murder charges against Larin-Garcia.

Jose Larin-Garcia, 19, of Cathedral City, is accused in the deadly shooting of Jacob Montgomery, 19, Juan Duarte Raya, 18, and Yuliana Garcia, 17, and Carlos Campos Rivera, 25. The bodies of Montgomery, Duarte-Raya, and Garcia were found fatally shot inside a vehicle following a crash at 11:40 p.m. Feb. 3 at Sunny Dunes and El Placer roads.

Rivera’s body was found several blocks away on Canon Drive in Palm Springs at 12:15 a.m. on Feb. 4, approximately 35 minutes after police arrived to the crash scene.

During day two of the preliminary hearing, two PSPD detectives provided testimony about the investigation which eventually led to Larin-Garcia’s arrest.

After he was released from the hospital on the night of the shootings, Larin-Garcia reportedly went to a friend’s house, who bought him bandages for his injuries, according to PSPD Detective Grissom. Grissom testified that the friend also bought Larin-Garcia a Greyhound bus ticket to Florida under a fake name, and drove him to the bus station on the evening of February 4. where he would later be arrested.

The friend also told Grissom that Larin-Garcia said that he ‘messed up’ on the night of the shootings.

Grissom also testified that Larin-Garcia was ‘slurring and seemed drunk’ when he was taken to the hospital, that he was having difficulty remembering information, and that his Blood Alcohol Content was measured at .16.

John Patrick Dolan, Larin-Garcia’s defense attorney, previously told News Channel 3 that his client was friends with Jacob Montgomery.

During the testimony of PSPD Detective Bixler, it was also revealed that Larin-Garcia was friends with Carlos Campos Rivera. Carlos Campos Rivera’s mother described Larin-Garcia and Rivera as being ‘friends’ and that Larin-Garcia had been over to the house som time around Thanksgiving.

Jake Ingrassia @JakeKESQ will be providing live updates from the courtroom.

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{“url”:”https://twitter.com/JakeKESQ/status/1100103718496657409″,”author_name”:”Jake Ingrassia”,”author_url”:”https://twitter.com/JakeKESQ”,”html”:”&#lt;blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”&#gt;&#lt;p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”&#gt;Correction: the shootings occurred late the night of Feb 3rd. &#lt;br&#gt;&#lt;br&#gt;Police discovered 3 of the 4 fatally shot in a vehicle at Sunny Dunes and El Placer roads.&#lt;br&#gt;&#lt;br&#gt;The 4th body was found fatally shot blocks away – on Canon Drive.&#lt;/p&#gt;– Jake Ingrassia (@JakeKESQ) &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/JakeKESQ/status/1100103718496657409?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;February 25, 2019&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/blockquote&#gt;n&#lt;script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″&#gt;&#lt;/script&#gt;n”,”width”:550,”height”:null,”type”:”rich”,”cache_age”:”3153600000″,”provider_name”:”Twitter”,”provider_url”:”https://twitter.com”,”version”:”1.0″}

{“url”:”https://twitter.com/JakeKESQ/status/1100099211499061255″,”author_name”:”Jake Ingrassia”,”author_url”:”https://twitter.com/JakeKESQ”,”html”:”&#lt;blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”&#gt;&#lt;p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”&#gt;READ MORE: &#lt;a href=”https://t.co/iFGAx4bsW3″&#gt;https://t.co/iFGAx4bsW3&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;br&#gt;&#lt;br&#gt;At Friday’s prelim hearing, PSPD officers testified about what they witnessed the night of the shooting. &#lt;br&#gt;Today’s court appearance will reveal if Larin-Garcia will stand trial to face murder charges.&#lt;/p&#gt;– Jake Ingrassia (@JakeKESQ) &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/JakeKESQ/status/1100099211499061255?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;February 25, 2019&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/blockquote&#gt;n&#lt;script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″&#gt;&#lt;/script&#gt;n”,”width”:550,”height”:null,”type”:”rich”,”cache_age”:”3153600000″,”provider_name”:”Twitter”,”provider_url”:”https://twitter.com”,”version”:”1.0″}

At last week’s preliminary hearing, officers provided testimony of what they witnessed the night of Feb 3. Monday’s court date will evaluate these findings and current evidence to see if Larin-Garcia will stand trial to face murder charges.

During last week’s proceedings, prosecutors stated that all four victims sustained gunshot wounds to the head.

According to PSPD Officer Colantuono, Larin-Garcia told the officer when he responded to the scene, “How can I be okay? I just witnessed a murder,” when questioned.

One PSPD detective detailed what was reportedly found in Larin-Garcia’s room during the investigation; long-sleeve shirt with blood on it, ammunition magazines, a pistol case for a Glock, and gun-cleaning supplies.

Watch: Family members of the victims speak with News Channel 3

Larin-Garcia’s attorney told News Channel 3 his client was friends with Montgomery and that he was in the car with Montgomery, Garcia, and Duarte Raya on the night of their killings.

The Palm Springs Police Department said investigators have determined the killings were all connected, but they have not released any possible motive for the crimes at this time.

Larin-Garcia was arrested on Feb. 4 at the Greyhound bus station at 83100 Indio Blvd. in Indio. He pleaded not guilty to all charges last week and is being held without bail.

His murder charges include the special circumstance allegation of multiple murders, opening Larin-Garcia to a possible death sentence.