On Sunday morning, a gunman walked into a Las Vegas Starbucks and opened fire. After Pedro Jose Garcia’s card was declined at the drive-thru window while trying to purchase a water, he entered the store and shot two rounds into the ceiling and one into another customer’s chest, the Associated Press reports. According to the Daily Mail, Garcia was given a water even though his card didn’t work, but he still parked the car and came inside.
Medin Gebrezgier, a customer who witnessed the attack, told police and reporters how people cried and hit the floor as the shots were fired. “Terror, it was just terror. We were afraid,” Gebrezgier told KVVU-TV. “We didn’t know what was going to happen next. I had no idea what to do.”
Garcia, who is 34, was arrested on site and is awaiting a court appearance on murder, robbery, burglary and weapon charges. Authorities still aren’t sure what his motive was, but they’re investigating how he may have been connected to the 41-year-old victim.
Police Lt. Dan McGrath told the Associated Press that Garcia called 911 and described somebody else as the shooter, but witnesses indentified him when police arrived. Parts of the shopping center where the Starbucks is located were evacuated so that a bomb squad could investigate a backpack in the building that Garcia had claimed held a bomb.
Garcia was released from federal prison November after serving time for stolen vehicle, battery, attempted theft, and drug and weapon charges. The New York Post reports that, due to these previous charges, Garcia shouldn’t have been able to get a gun.