SPOKANE, Wash. — A Mexican national who shot and injured a Spokane Police officer during a drug trafficking bust has been sentenced to 23 years in prison for shooting at law enforcement during a drug trafficking investigation.
36-year-old Israel Garcia pleaded guilty to eight counts of 1st Degree Assault for the shooting. He previously pleaded guilty to federal charges for Discharge of a Firearm During and in Relation to a Drug Trafficking Crime and Possession with Intent to Distribute 400 Grams or More of Fentanyl. Garcia was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for those charges last month and ordered to pay over $6,000 in restitution.
According to court documents, Garcia was first convicted of assault on a federal officer in 2015 related to a drug and gun trafficking investigation. Garcia spent 84 months in federal prison. He was released in 2021 and returned to Mexico.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Washington says Garcia illegally returned to the United States in 2022 and began working for a drug trafficking organization responsible for distributing fentanyl-laced pills to the Spokane community.
On October 16, 2022, Garcia traveled from Yakima to Spokane with 10,000 fentanyl-laced pills and two loaded guns.
When officers tried to arrest him, Garcia got out of the vehicle and fired at the officers. One officer was injured in head and face from the shooting. Law enforcement shot back and hit Garcia.
Officials say there was a child in Garcia’s vehicle at the time of the shooting.
Garcia will serve out both the state and federal charges concurrently.
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