The fourth and final defendant in a deadly gun battle outside a St. Paul funeral home was sentenced Monday to six months in the county workhouse and three years of probation.
Mario Alberto Vega, 32, of St. Paul, pleaded guilty in November to second-degree assault for taking part in the February 2022 shootout at Simple Traditions by Bradshaw funeral home on the city’s West Side.
The shooting, which claimed the life of 28-year-old Agustin Martinez of Crystal, happened as mourners were gathered for the funeral for Casanova Carter, 26, who was killed at his West Side home on Feb. 1, 2022.
Four other men were wounded in the funeral home gunfight, and houses and vehicles were struck by bullets.
Murder charges have not been filed in Martinez’s death. A spokesperson for the Ramsey County attorney’s office said at the time the assault charges were filed that they were “at the highest level possible that we felt could be sustained at trial given the evidence provided to us from law enforcement.”
Two men were sentenced to prison last year.
Bryan Lara-Saavedra, a 27-year-old Minneapolis man who police say fired the first shot, was given a three-year term in June. An attempted murder charge was dismissed as part of a plea deal.
David Nicholas Garcia, 42, of St. Paul, who shot and wounded Lara-Saavedra, was sentenced to two years and three months in prison in March. Two charges of illegally possessing a firearm were dismissed as part of a plea deal.
Jesus Hernandez, 23, of South St. Paul, was sentenced in November to three months in the county workhouse and three years of probation. He made a straight plea to the single charge against him.
Judge Leonardo Castro on Monday stayed a five-year prison term for Vega, who will receive one day of credit for his jail sentence. Two charges of illegally possessing a firearm were dismissed as part of a November plea deal.
Fistfight, then gunfire
Officers were sent to the funeral home at 488 Humboldt Ave. around 11:20 a.m. Feb. 21, 2022.
Martinez was wounded and lying on a sidewalk. He died at Regions Hospital of a gunshot wound to his back.
Lara-Saavedra had gunshot wounds to his stomach and right leg. Several other men who were at the funeral home were transported to Regions with gunshot wounds.
Officers recovered bullet casings “all over the area,” the charges read.
Surveillance video shows a fistfight on the sidewalk in front of the funeral home. Martinez was involved in the fight, but he eventually walked away out of camera view.
Lara-Saavedra then pulled out a gun and shot a 36-year-old man in the neck. People scattered when the gun was fired, with some running back to the funeral home and others fleeing in the same direction as Martinez.
Garcia was seen at the entrance to the funeral home firing several rounds in the direction of Martinez. Garcia then retreated into the funeral home.
Hernandez stood in the boulevard and fired in the direction that Martinez and others had run. Vega came out of the funeral home and also fired in the same direction, the charges said.
Meanwhile, four men were charged with murder in Carter’s killing. One man was given a 34-year prison sentence in November, while the others have hearings scheduled for this month.
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