By Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — An alleged drunk driver of a flatbed pickup truck, who along with his passenger reportedly had been kicked out of the Blue Diamond Cabaret east of Stillwater, has been accused of returning and firing multiple rounds from a pistol in the direction of the club — while three or four people were standing outside at about 1 am on Feb. 2.
“No person at the club was struck by the gunfire,” according to an affidavit by Payne County Sheriff’s Deputy Zach Wheeler.
About two hours later, the defendant, Cristian U. Garcia Angeles, 27, of Duncan, was found unconscious in the driver’s seat of the truck, which had crashed in a ditch at 19th and Fairgrounds Road in rural Stillwater, the affidavit alleged.
Angeles and his passenger, Jorge M. De La Rosa, 24, of Duncan, were booked into the Payne County Jail after being cleared by the Stillwater Medical Center, the affidavit said.
Angeles was charged with committing a drive-by shooting, a felony punishable by two years to life in prison on conviction, along with drunk driving as a misdemeanor punishable by at least 10 days in jail. Angeles was released the next day on $50,000 bail and scheduled to appear in court on March 2 with an attorney.
His passenger, who is also being held for immigration authorities, was charged only with public intoxication and given a court-appointed attorney Wednesday but remains jailed on $5,000 bail pending a March 10 court appearance.
A black pistol found on the ground by the truck was identified as a Springfield Armory XD-40 semi-automatic that had no rounds in the chamber or magazine, the affidavit alleged.
“I searched the immediate area for any loose ammunition or spent shell casings. As I opened the driver-side door, I observed a copper-colored shell casing in the weather stripping of the bottom of the door panel,” the deputy alleged in his affidavit.
The manager said that the two men “came into the club very intoxicated and started to cause a minor disturbance while there,” the affidavit alleged. The manager said, “he kicked the two men out of club shortly before 1 am,” the affidavit alleged.
The manager said, “both men returned a few minutes later and drove through the parking lot, yelling out the windows…this is when the driver pointed a handgun out of the window and fired a pistol approximately 4-5 times in the direction of the club and approximately 3-4 people standing outside,” the affidavit alleged. “I found no immediate damage,” to the building or vehicles, the deputy wrote in his affidavit.
Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Colby Martens, who arrived at 4 am, said that Angeles “admitted to being the one who shot the pistol in the direction of the club,” the deputy alleged in his affidavit. Angeles said they were headed to their house from the Blue Diamond and crashed in the ditch, the trooper alleged in an affidavit. Angeles was given field sobriety tests by the trooper, who said that he refused to take the state’s breath test, according to his affidavit.
