Witness: Police swarmed Garcia during arrest in Markel case
HALLANDALE BEACH — The Miami Beach man charged with the murder of Florida State University law professor Dan Markel barely got out of his car before being apprehended by authorities at a gas station Wednesday night.
At least 10 cars from the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and Hallandale Beach Police Department swarmed 34-year-old Sigfredo Garcia to make the arrest, said eyewitness Adam Lenner, a homeless man who’s lived for years in the tree line outside of the Exxon station at a busy intersection just off the interstate.
Garcia, who has been charged with first-degree murder, pulled up in a black 2001 Lexus to pump No. 3, the closest to the entrance of the station located at a busy intersection just off Interstate 95.
“They came right away,” Lenner, 58, said Friday. “They were looking for that guy.”
Lenner said the officers “flew in from everywhere” — even the opposite direction down a one-way street — into the station to nab Garcia. Most of the cars were unmarked, but there were two Hallandale Beach police cars. He recognized the FBI and DEA officers from their agency emblazoned shirts.
After pulling Garcia out of the car and on to the ground, he was placed into a police car while officers raided his vehicle, emptying its contents on the parking lot.
Garcia also was charged with cocaine possession after police found a baggie with two-tenths of a gram of the substance in his wallet, according to a HBPD report. The charge was dropped Friday as authorities prepare to transfer Garcia to Leon County.
“They ripped his car apart,” Lenner said. “He had luggage in the back seat. It was all laying (on the ground) in the front. They went through everything.”
The arrest lasted for at least two hours, during which the station was shut down to customers.
“They weren’t playing around,” Lenner said. “No cars could come in here to get gas. They blocked everything off.”
Markel died hours after being shot in his car inside the garage of his Tallahassee home in Benton Hills on July 18, 2014.
At the time of the incident, police said Markel was the “intended victim.” Sources close to the open investigation this week said the killing was a murder for hire.
Lenner witnessed the arrest with his friends Don and Tony under a tree on the station’s property. The men nodded and affirmed his account of the dramatic episode that unfolded a little after 9 p.m.
While daytime workers at an adjacent Taco Bell, a strip club and a Wendy's across the street may not have seen the episode, Lenner and his buddies had a front row seat.
The store manager of the gas station declined to comment on the matter.
Lenner said he learned about the details of the case after reading an article in Friday’s local newspaper.
“I guess he’s done now,” Lenner said with a laugh.
Contact Safid Deen at sdeen@tallahassee.com.
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