Man charged in four Palm Springs murders briefly appears in court

A man accused of shooting four people who were found dead at two different locations in Palm Springs briefly appeared in court today for a post-preliminary arraignment.

Jose Larin-Garcia, 19, is facing four counts of murder stemming from the Feb. 3 shootings. Three of the victims were found inside a Toyota Corolla that crashed at Sunny Dunes and El Placer roads around 11:40 p.m. that night, while the fourth was found in the street 30 minutes later about a half-mile away.

During today’s hearing, Larin-Garcia’s trial readiness conference date was set and it was determined that he will undergo a psychological evaluation. The trial readiness conference will take place on May 24.

The murder charges against him include the special-circumstance allegation of multiple murders, making him eligible for a death sentence.

Deputy District Attorney Scot Clark contended during a preliminary hearing that wrapped up on Feb. 28 that Larin-Garcia — while sitting in the back seat of the Corolla — fatally shot 25-year-old Carlos Campos Rivera on Canon Drive south of Theresa Drive while the victim was standing next to or leaning inside the car. The motive for the shooting was unclear, but Clark speculated drugs may have been involved.

After that shooting, Clark said, the driver of the Toyota sped off, but Larin-Garcia fatally shot the three other people in the vehicle then jumped from the moving car before it crashed into a parked Jeep at Sunny Dunes and El Placer roads.

Clark said Larin-Garcia killed the trio to “protect himself — to eliminate the witnesses of what he’d just done.”

Larin-Garcia “set about methodically killing the only other three people on Earth who could describe what had happened out in front of (Rivera’s) apartment building,” the prosecutor said.

Killed inside the car were Jacob Montgomery, 19, Juan Duarte Raya, 18, and the driver, Yuliana Garcia, 17.

Police testified earlier in the hearing that Larin-Garcia was found by responding officers hiding under a pickup truck just blocks from the scene of the car crash, and he was taken to Desert Regional Medical Center for treatment of various abrasions. Clark contended the abrasions were “road rash” consistent with the suspect jumping from the moving vehicle.

Larin-Garcia fled from the hospital, where police had been questioning him, and ran to the home of a friend, prosecutors said.

Palm Springs police Detective Steve Grissom testified during the hearing that the friend went to Larin-Garcia’s mother’s home to retrieve fresh clothing for the suspect and his identification from a wallet. Later in the day, the friend also bought bandages for Larin-Garcia, along with a Greyhound bus ticket to Florida under the name “Joseph Browning,” Grissom testified.

“He knew that Mr. Garcia was trying to get away with regards to the traffic collision,” Grissom said. “So he bought him a ticket under a false name.”

At some point that day, Larin-Garcia shaved his head to change his appearance, then the friend drove him to the Greyhound bus station in Indio, where he was eventually arrested, Grissom testified.

Palm Springs Police Detective Edman Escallada confirmed that Larin-Garcia called his mother after his arrest, claiming he was innocent of the crimes and needed a lawyer “to seek his options.” The mother then asked why he was running from law enforcement if he was innocent, to which Larin-Garcia responded he was intoxicated, scared and an idiot, Escallada said.