Tip led Texas bounty hunters to fugitive, deadly gunfight in auto dealer showroom

GREENVILLE, Tex. – Fidel Garcia Jr. was known as one of the best bounty hunters in the state of Texas, a private investigator from Corpus Christi who had tracked down countless fugitives that had jumped bail and left bondsman holding an empty money bag.

So it was no surprise when he got a call recently from a Minnesota-based PI company to check out a tip that Ramon Michael Hutchinson, 49, wanted for skipping out on $50,000 bail in a Minneapolis court on felony charges, had been sighted in this north Texas town just 50 miles from Dallas.

What the 50-year-old Garcia didn’t expect when he finally met Hutchinson face-to-face in an auto dealership showroom here was a shootout – 20 bullets exchanged in six seconds, resulting in the death of Garcia, his partner Gabriel Bernal and Hutchinson – who was wanted in Minnesota on drug charges, and disarming and assaulting a police officer.

The gunfight occurred around 7:15 p.m. Tuesday in a small, glass walled office just off the showroom floor, employees and customers diving for shelter. One woman called 911 from the bathroom, saying she heard shots and screaming. She pleaded with the operator to “please hurry” in sending police to the scene.  

Authorities said Garcia and Bernal, handcuffs at the ready, approached a seated Hutchinson, who promptly pulled a pistol from his waistband only to fumble it onto a desk.

The bounty hunters drew their guns, and wrestled Hutchinson back into his chair, but not before he recovered his gun. The next sound was a barrage of bullets fired from the guns. All three men died at the scene from multiple gunshot wounds. No one else was struck or injured.

A graphic video taken with a cellphone by an unidentified person in the showroom captured the drama from outside the room and up to the point where the guns discharged. The video went viral on the Internet after it was shared with news media by the City of Gainsville.

A woman was in the office with Hutchinson when the bounty hunters approached, leaving quickly and heard shouting, “no.” She was not immediately identified.

Stew Peters, the bail investigator with U.S. Fugitive Recovery and Extradition, the private company in Minneapolis that contracted with the Texas bounty hunters, described Garcia as a “gentle giant who showed nothing but respect for others, even the violent individuals he as trying to apprehend.”

He said Garcia operated a reputable private investigator company in Corpus Christi and that Bernal worked for him. Peters also explained how the auto showroom became the happenstance location of the shootout.

Peters said his company got the tip that Hutchinson had a girlfriend in the Dallas area, and that she was considering trading her car at Nissan of Greenville for a newer model.

Garcia located the car, attaching a tracker bug in hope she’d lead him to his prey. But it didn’t happen soon enough, causing Garcia to hatch a plan to wait in ambush for Hutchinson at the auto dealership in the event he showed up with his girlfriend to talk further about a trade-in.

“Mr. Garcia felt the defendant would ultimately appear at that dealership,” said Peters. “Unfortunately, Mr. Hutchinson was more prepared for a gunfight.”

Rick Ford, owner of the Nissan dealership, said Garcia and Bernal identified themselves as federal agents, needing to set up a ruse to lure Hutchinson to the dealership through his girlfriend.

Authorities said the bounty hunters waited four hours before Hutchinson and a woman companion arrived. The gunfight began minutes later, shattering the glass walls and windows of the showroom office.

“We were told they were federal agents so we didn’t ask them to leave,” said Ford. “They were dressed casual. We thought they were plainclothes officers.”

Bounty hunters working for bail bondsmen have authority to take fugitives into custody in Texas, but they are not government agents. Out of state bail bondsman and investigators are required to work with Texas registered private investigators.

It was the second time in a month violence has erupted in the United States involving bounty hunters seeking to capture fugitives, according to the Associated Press.

Seven Tennessee bounty hunters have been charged with murder in connection with an April episode when they wrongly targeted four people in a car in Clarksville near the Kentucky border, shooting one man to death and injuring another.

Authorities said none of the occupants of the car were wanted on outstanding arrest warrants.

Details for this story were provided by the Greenville, Texas, Herald-Banner and the Associated Press.