Gang Leader Found Guilty In Garden Bar Shooting

MOUNT VERNON, NY — The leader of the G-Shine Bloods gang, Jason Garcia of Mount Vernon, was found guilty on all counts following a jury trial before Westchester County Court Judge Anne Minihan for the Mount Vernon Garden Bar shooting in 2016. District Attorney Anthony A. Scarpino, Jr. announced the verdict Friday afternoon.

Garcia, 36, was found guilty of Attempted Murder in the Second Degree, a class B Felony; two counts of Assault in the First Degree, class B felonies; and two counts of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree, class C felonies.

According to the evidence presented at trial, at 1:44 a.m. Dec. 10, 2016 outside the bar on 5th Avenue, Garcia aka "Mecca-J" ordered Matthew Brown, a Bloods gang associate, to shoot someone who owed Garcia money for marijuana.

The target was shot in the chest and neck, and an innocent bystander was shot in the head. Both survived, but face life-long medical difficulties as a result of the shooting. The shooting was captured on surveillance video.

Garcia also faces trial for attempted murder and conspiring to kill an eyewitness to the Garden Bar shooting while being held in Westchester County jail pending this trial. For that, he and three co-defendants are charged with Attempted Murder in the First Degree, a class A violent felony, and others charges. That case is pending. (Read more on that case.)

Garcia is the highest-ranking member of the Westchester set of the Bloods Gang, Scarpino said.

Investigations into these cases are a collaboration by the Mount Vernon Police Department and the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office Criminal Investigators.

“This is a major blow to gang activity in Mount Vernon and Westchester as a whole,” said Scarpino. “Our focus on the most violent criminals in our communities continues to force down the crime rate and incidents of violence. Mount Vernon is a safer city as a result of this conviction. We commend our Criminal Investigators, prosecutors in the Gangs, Firearms and Narcotics Bureau and Mount Vernon Police for bringing this dangerous criminal to justice.”

Sentencing is scheduled for March 17, 2020. He faces up to 40 years in state prison.

The case was prosecuted by the Investigations Division Gang, Firearms and Narcotics Bureau.