Suspect in Slaying of Friend Also Sought in Oxnard Store Holdup

A man suspected of fatally shooting a friend in a canal-lined Oxnard neighborhood has been linked to an armed robbery at a grocery store nearly two weeks ago, investigators said Thursday.

Hector Garcia, 22, of Oxnard is now wanted in connection with the Sept. 19 robbery at Smith’s Food & Drug Center in Oxnard as well as the slaying of 24-year-old Michael Mansir on Tuesday.

Police say Garcia, Mansir and a third man--25-year-old David Lutizetti, who was arrested late Wednesday in connection with the robbery--were friends and hung out in the well-to-do areas of Mandalay Bay and Leeward Estates, where Mansir lived.

Detectives are now trying to determine whether the homicide and robbery are connected.

“There are all kinds of different possibilities for motives,” police spokesman David Keith said. “Was Mansir involved with the robbery? We don’t know. Maybe he knew about the robbery and threatened to go public. There’s a dozen motives we’re looking at.”

During the robbery, Garcia allegedly entered the store about 6:30 a.m. wearing an olive-green suit and carrying a briefcase and a gun. After herding a store manager and Lutizetti--who worked as the store’s dairy manager--to the safe, Garcia allegedly stole a “substantial” amount of cash and pretended to take Lutizetti hostage, police said.

Lutizetti later told police Garcia then forced him out of the car near the Victoria Avenue off-ramp of the Ventura Freeway, causing him to suffer scrapes and bruises.

Police arrested Lutizetti late Wednesday on suspicion of armed robbery while questioning him at the Oxnard Police Station. Lutizetti has denied involvement in the robbery or homicide, Keith said.

“We felt we had enough evidence, and so did the judge who was willing to sign an arrest warrant,” Keith said. Lutizetti was being held in Ventura County Jail on an armed robbery charge, with bail set at $20,000.

Detectives connected Lutizetti and Garcia to the robbery while questioning Mansir’s friends and relatives as part of their homicide investigation, Keith said. Police have found no evidence that Mansir was involved in the robbery, he said.

Mansir was shot at least three times at close range in the living room of his mother’s home at 2500 Peninsula Road in Oxnard. Mansir’s brother and another friend, both of whom were at the house, identified Garcia as the gunman.

Police on Thursday intensified their search for the suspect, releasing a photo and appealing to the public for help. Anyone with information is asked to call police at 385-7630.

Relatives and friends of Michael Mansir said earlier that the victim and Garcia were close friends and had once lived together.

Mansir’s girlfriend, Tina Whirlow, 22, said Lutizetti and Mansir had been friends “since they were in grade school.”

She also said that Mansir had been a good father to their 2 1/2-year-old daughter, Sabrina, and had been attending classes at Ventura College.

“He loved his daughter. She loved him, too,” Whirlow said. “Now she just wants to talk to her daddy.”

Whirlow said she did not know whether there was a connection between the holdup and Mansir’s death.

“It’s just very confusing,” she said. “I’ve been trying to figure it out since I heard it.”