A customer who apparently thought he was being allowed to drink for free wound up shooting a Wilkesboro restaurant manager twice and then running him over on Sunday, authorities said.
Witnesses told police that the customer, later identified as Fernando Villatoro Vargas, 26, of North Lee Avenue in Yadkinville left after the manager asked him to pay.
The restaurant manager, Jose Maximo Garcia, 30, followed him into the parking lot of Chile Verde restaurant at 1502 Mall Square. The two got into an argument, "and at some point in time Mr. Vargas retrieved a weapon and approached Mr. Garcia," Chief Robert Bowlin of the Wilkesboro Police Department said.
When police arrived at 4:10 p.m., they found Garcia in the parking lot. He had gunshot wounds in his upper body and cuts covering his body. He told police he hurt all over.
Bowlin said that Garcia was taken to Wilkes Regional Medical Center, then airlifted to Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and was in critical condition yesterday.
Witnesses told police that Vargas shot Garcia twice. They said that Vargas then climbed into his Ford F-150 pickup truck, backed out, began moving forward and ran over Garcia, according to a police report. The truck then hit a parked car. As Vargas backed up, he ran over Garcia again before driving away on nearby U.S. 421 North, according to the report.
Two witnesses followed the pickup, and helped authorities find it. A trooper with the N.C. Highway Patrol stopped the truck near the intersection of U.S. 421 North and N.C. 16 North.
Vargas was arrested by Wilkesboro police without incident. Police recovered a handgun.
Vargas has been charged with first-degree attempted murder, felony hit and run, and DWI.
He was being held yesterday in the Wilkes County Jail with bond set at $250,000.
Records with the N.C. Department of Correction show that Vargas was convicted of DWI in 2005.
mmitchell@wsjournal.com
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