Court date set for man held in Starbucks slaying

Image

L.E. Baskow

Pedro Jose Garcia, 34, reads documents as he makes his first court appearance being accused in Sunday’s shooting at a southwest valley Starbucks that left a man dead on Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2016.

Fri, Sep 30, 2016 (10:07 a.m.)

A judge scheduled a Nov. 3 preliminary hearing for a 34-year-old ex-felon accused of killing a Starbucks customer during a weekend coffee shop shooting in Las Vegas.

Defense attorney Edward Kane was assigned Friday to be Pedro Jose Garcia's attorney. He says Garcia will plead not guilty.

Garcia is accused of killing 41-year-old Aleksandr Khutsishvili a little before noon Sunday.

He remains jailed in Las Vegas without bail.

Witnesses say Garcia entered the store after his payment card was declined at the drive-thru window, and police say Khutsishvili exchanged words with Garcia before he was shot.

A friend who knew Khutsishvili since childhood says he was a naturalized U.S. citizen from the country of Georgia, where he served in the military and wasn't the kind of person to back away from conflict.

Back to top

SHARE

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy