Bounty hunters scuffle with fugitive as fatal shots ring out at Greenville car dealership

Dallas Morning News – by Claire Z. Cardona, Eline de Bruijn, Julieta Chiquillo

Two bounty hunters and the fugitive they were looking for died in a shootout Tuesday evening at a Greenville auto dealership, officials say.

Officials identified the bounty hunters as Fidel Garcia Jr., 54, and Gabriel Bernal, 33. Minnesota fugitive Ramon Michael  Hutchinson, 49, was also killed.

The shootings occurred about 7:15 p.m. at Nissan of Greenville along Interstate 30 near Joe Ramsey Boulevard.

Greenville is about 50 miles northeast of Dallas in Hunt County.

Officers responding to calls about gunshots found the three men dead, city officials said in a written statement.

The city of Greenville released video of the shooting to reporters on Wednesday afternoon.

The video shows two armed men cornering a third man in a glass office at the dealership. As the men scuffle, gunshots ring out in quick succession.

“Get down!” says a man as a woman shrieks in the background.

Greenville officials said Garcia, owner of F.N.G. Security and Investigations of Corpus Christi, and Bernal, one of his employees, went to the dealership to capture Hutchinson. The Minnesota man had an outstanding warrant in that state for failure to appear in court for a drug charge.

The dealership’s owner, Rick Ford, told KDFW-TV (Channel 4) that the bounty hunters had waited several hours for the third man to arrive and had initially presented themselves as federal agents.

Hutchinson was in an office with another person when Bernal and Garcia approached and began giving him commands, according to Greenville officials. Hutchinson tried to pull a pistol from his waistband but dropped it on a desk.

Officials said the men scuffled as Hutchinson tried to pick up his gun. Hutchinson was able to retrieve his gun and began firing, and the bounty hunters fired back, according to police.

About 20 shots were fired in the span of six seconds, officials said. The three men had multiple gunshot wounds and died at the scene.

“We express appreciation and send prayers to our customers, employees and the City of Greenville for the unfortunate situation that occurred at Nissan of Greenville,” Ford said in a prepared statement.

“We were all very relieved that none of our employees or customers were hurt,” Ford told KDFW. “We can replace the glass; we can replace the furniture.”

No one else was wounded.

Greenville released 911 calls that came in the chaotic moments following the shooting. One woman sobs into the phone and says, “Oh my God.”

Another woman called emergency workers from a restroom.

“I’ve been hiding in the bathroom,” she says. “Please hurry.”

The call-taker asks if the woman can still hear shots.

“Not at the moment,” she says, “but I hear a woman screaming.”

She pleads to the call-taker: “Please hurry.”

Hutchinson had been on the run since March and was wanted on other felony charges besides the drug offense, including disarming a police officer and assault of an officer, according to Minnesota news station KSTP-TV.

A private bail enforcement company in Minnesota got involved in the case when Hutchinson forfeited a $50,000 bail bond, KSTP reported. A $1,000 reward was offered for information leading to his capture.

The dealership’s service department will reopen Friday and its showroom will reopen Monday.

Staff writer Tom Steele, KXAS-TV (NBC5) and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2017/05/30/shooting-leaves-3-dead-greenville-auto-dealership

5 thoughts on “Bounty hunters scuffle with fugitive as fatal shots ring out at Greenville car dealership

  1. ………so two guys come up to you with guns drawn and start yelling at you……..I would have done the same thing Hutchinson did….try to defend myself

  2. Hutchinson died with his boots on and took a couple of scum down with him. Although he died, he still won the fight 2-1, and even after they had the jump on him. There’s a badass if I ever saw one.

    I might have less sympathy for the guy if he was being pursued for real crimes, as opposed to drug charges and fighting with a pig.

    Also, those bounty hunters were idiots for attempting this capture in a place like that. It’s a good thing no third parties were hurt.

  3. Bounty hunters:

    Cf. Taylor v. Tainter, 83 U.S. 366 (1873) (Bounty hunters); http://laws.findlaw.com/us/83/366.html

    Private attorney general: Rotella v. Wood, et al., 528 U.S. 549, 557 (02/23/2000) (In rejecting a significantly different focus under RICO, therefore, we are honoring an analogy that Congress itself accepted and relied upon, and one that promotes the objectives of civil RICO as readily as it furthers the objects of the Clayton Act. Both statutes share a common congressional objective of encouraging civil litigation to supplement Government efforts to deter and penalize the respectively prohibited practices. The object of civil RICO is thus not merely to compensate victims but to turn them into prosecutors, “private attorneys general,” dedicated to eliminating racketeering activity.(3) Id., at 187 (citing Malley-Duff, 483 U.S., at 151) (civil RICO specifically has a “further purpose [of] encouraging potential private plaintiffs diligently to investigate”); http://laws.findlaw.com/us/000/98-896.html

  4. “The Minnesota man had an outstanding warrant in that state for failure to appear in court for a drug charge.”

    THEN THOSE 2 SCUMBAGS DESERVED TO DIE!!!!!

    Damn shame HE did, however.

    “… was wanted on other felony charges besides the drug offense, including disarming a police officer and assault of an officer,…”

    Shoulda smoked them, too!

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