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Man who shot at Spokane police in 2022 receives second 20-year prison sentence

One person is placed in the back of a Spokane police vehicle near the intersection of First Avenue and Cedar Street in this October 2022 photo. Israel Garcia, who exchanged gunfire with police and was wounded, was sentenced Friday to 23 years in prison. The sentence will run at the same time as his 20-year federal prison sentence in relation to the same drug-related shootout. (Quinn Welsch)
By Garrett Cabeza garrettc@spokesman.com(509) 459-5135

A 36-year-old man who was sentenced last month to 20 years in federal prison for shooting at police in downtown Spokane during a drug-trafficking bust received another 20-plus year sentence in state court.

Israel Garcia pleaded guilty Friday to eight counts of first-degree assault for shooting at eight Spokane police officers almost exactly three years ago outside an apartment building at 106 S. Cedar St., according to a Spokane County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office news release.

Spokane County Superior Court Judge John Cooney then sentenced Garcia to 23 years in prison, a term that will run at the same time as the 20-year federal sentence.

Spokane police specialty units and the Drug Enforcement Administration were attempting on Oct. 16, 2022, to apprehend Garcia, who was delivering large amounts of fentanyl to Spokane to distribute, according to county prosecutors.

When Garcia drove up to the apartments and parked, police activated their emergency lights. Almost immediately, Garcia opened his car door, pointed a gun directly at police and fired. Garcia then got out and ran, still firing at officers at close range, according to the release.

Officers returned fire and struck Garcia. One officer was grazed in the head by a bullet after it hit the window of his vehicle, embedding glass shards deep in his face, prosecutors said. The shards came very close to blinding the officer.

Garcia’s bullets were directed at officers, but they were also fired in the direction of his vehicle that contained several people, including a child, federal prosecutors said in a news release last month.

Two officers described the trauma Garcia inflicted on all eight officers during Friday’s sentencing, according to the county release.

The wounded officer relayed his horror and disgust upon learning that Garcia had a small child in the back seat of his car while the shootout took place.

“I’ve yet to have seen or felt the level of terror and fear from a person more than I did upon coming face to face with that little girl when we eventually opened up the back door to get her out,” the officer said.

The county prosecutor’s office ruled the seven officers who shot at Garcia acted appropriately.

In the federal case, Garcia pleaded guilty to discharge of a firearm during a drug trafficking crime and possession with intent to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl. U.S. Chief District Judge Stanley Bastian handed down the two-decade sentence.

Garcia, a gang member in the Yakima area, was convicted in 2015 of assaulting federal officers related to a drug and firearm trafficking investigation and sentenced to 7 years in federal prison. Garcia was released in 2021 and deported to Mexico. He unlawfully returned to the U.S. in 2022.

For the 2022 shootout, Bastian also ordered Garcia to pay more than $6,000 in restitution to Spokane police.