Police arrested an employee of a popular Costa Mesa auto repair shop on suspicion of shooting and killing the owner of the business on Monday, June 8, officials said Tuesday.
A customer called police at about 3:22 p.m. and said she had located the body of a man identified as 60-year-old Huntington Beach resident Garbis Yaghlagian unresponsive and slumped over in his office, Costa Mesa Police Department officials said in a news release. The victim was the owner of Gary’s Automotive, 1995 Harbor Blvd., his son, Sarkis “Sako” Yaghlagian, said.
Officers responded and found that the business owner had suffered a gunshot wound, police said. Investigators determined that an employee of the shop, Francisco Javier Castaneda, 31, had been seen leaving the area after a loud bang was heard nearby.
Authorities later received reports of a suspicious person matching Castaneda’s description near Victoria Street and Harbor Boulevard, police said. Responding officers identified that person as the suspect and arrested him Monday on suspicion of murder. A firearm believed to have been involved in the homicide was recovered by detectives on Tuesday.
Castaneda was booked into the Orange County Jail and held without bail, police said. He was scheduled to appear in court Wednesday, June 10.
The victim’s son said his family is devastated, and said he was not immediately prepared to comment.
“It’s all just so much right now,” Sako Yaghlagian said during a brief telephone conversation. “It just happened yesterday.”
Source: Orange County Register
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