2 charged with murder in Lee Mart killing, unclear who shot clerk


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SALT LAKE CITY — Two of three men arrested in the shooting death of a longtime Lee Mart convenience store clerk have been charged with murder.

But newly filed charging documents raise questions about who is suspected of being the actual shooter or shooters.

Alexis Alan Garcia, 20, of South Salt Lake, and Martin Castillo, 19, were both charged Wednesday in 3rd District Court with murder and aggravated robbery, first-degree felonies.

Originally, it was reported Juan Andres Zalazar, 23, of Taylorsville, the third man arrested, was the alleged shooter after the other two suspects claimed he pulled the trigger.

But according to charging documents filed on Wednesday, both Garcia and Castillo may have been the ones who shot David Marsh, 62.

Garcia and Castillo are accused of going into the Lee Mart convenience store, 5909 S. 700 West, early on the morning of March 18 and robbing longtime worker Marsh. Surveillance video shows two men dressed in black hoodies with red bandanas over their faces.

After the duo took an undisclosed amount of money, Marsh is seen on the video throwing the empty register tray at one of the robbers as they ran out the door. One of the men reacted by turning and firing a .22-caliber handgun, hitting the employee. Marsh died five days later.

An autopsy revealed that Marsh was shot twice, according to charging documents.

Lee Clerk Shooting

The video also shows one man touching the glass of the front door with his bare hand as he left, according to the charges. Investigators pulled fingerprints from that window and identified Garcia, the charges state.

Castillo is listed in charging documents as a co-defendant. On April 10, police received a call from Castillo's sister who said she recognized her brother as being one of the men in the surveillance video, court records state.

The sister confronted her brother who allegedly told her he was in the store and that "Vicious" — Garcia's nickname — was the shooter. Later, after Castillo had left Utah for Florida, he told his sister "that he fired one shot and defendant Garcia fired one shot," according to charging documents.

Castillo allegedly told a friend that three were people involved, including a getaway driver. Castillo was arrested by Murray police in Florida about a week after Garcia was arrested.

As of Thursday, Zalazar remained in the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of murder, but no criminal charges have been filed against him. Bail for Castillo and Garcia was set at $1 million.

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Pat Reavy

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