A Central Islip man admitted luring a 19-year-old Bay Shore man to an attempted robbery before fatally shooting him inside a moving vehicle and fleeing to Florida the next day.
Erick Garcia, 22, pleaded guilty Tuesday to first-degree manslaughter in the Oct. 1, 2022, death of Carlos Guillen, according to Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney.
Garcia also pleaded guilty to second-degree criminal possession of a weapon in connection with a separate arrest involving a loaded handgun.
Prosecutors said Garcia arranged to meet Guillen as part of a plan to rob him.
When Guillen arrived at the location Garcia had selected, Garcia entered the passenger side of his vehicle and attempted to rob him at gunpoint, according to the district attorney’s office.
Guillen accelerated and drove away with Garcia still inside.
Garcia then shot Guillen and jumped from the vehicle while it was still moving, prosecutors said.
Guillen attempted to call 911 after he was shot but was unable to speak during the call. His vehicle later crashed, and he was taken to South Shore University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead from a gunshot wound.
Cellphone records placed Garcia’s phone near the shooting and showed that he fled to Florida the following day to avoid capture, according to prosecutors.
Garcia was arrested the following month after authorities said he was found carrying a loaded firearm in his waistband.
“This was a vicious plan with an equally vicious result,” Tierney said. “The defendant’s plan to lure and rob the victim, Carlos Guillen, led to foreseeable violence.”
Garcia pleaded guilty before Acting Supreme Court Justice Steven Pilewski to first-degree manslaughter, a Class B violent felony, and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, a Class C violent felony.
He is expected to be sentenced Aug. 6 to 25 years in prison followed by five years of post-release supervision.
Photo: SCDA
