WILKESBORO – A restaurant manager who was shot twice and run over twice Sunday in a dispute over a drink bill died Tuesday morning, authorities said.
Jose Maximo Garcia, 30, died at 6:25 a.m. at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, said Wilkesboro Police Chief Robert Bowlin.
He was shot and run over in the parking lot of Chili Verde after a dispute with a customer who did not pay for his drinks, Bowlin said.
Witnesses followed a pickup truck that left the scene and helped authorities locate the vehicle, which the N.C. Highway Patrol stopped without incident near the intersection of U.S. 421 North and N.C. 16 North, according to a police report.
Wilkesboro police arrested Fernando Villatoro Vargas, 26, of N. Lee Ave., Yadkinville.
Vargas was charged in connection with the shooting and was being held in the Wilkes County jail. After Garcia died yesterday, the charge against Vargas was upgraded to first-degree murder. He also faces charges of felony hit and run, and DWI.
Authorities say the argument that led to the shooting was about who was going to pay for the drinks, but the investigation is in its early stages.
The previous most recent homicide in Wilkesboro was a drug-related shooting on Dec. 2, 2004.
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