Authorities swarm the Hard Rock last spring after a shooting on the casino floor. Tahoe Daily Tribune photo
The man who shot a South Lake Tahoe resident on a Stateline casino floor took a selfie of himself wearing the sweatshirt “Strawberry Jams, But My Glock Don’t,” hours before the March 25, 2023, shooting that claimed the life of Omar Garcia.
Edgar Julian Delgado, 24, was sentenced by District Judge Tom Gregory to 22-55 years in prison on Thursday after he admitted in April to charges of first degree murder and an enhancement for the use of a deadly weapon.
Delgado, a Santa Cruz security guard, claimed he had no memory of the shooting because he was drunk and high at the time.
“The District Attorney’s Office presented surveillance footage of the murder and Delgado’s actions after the shooting,” according to a statement issued on Friday morning.
Garcia’s family and friends recalled him as an outgoing, funny, friendly, and caring person who always put family first.
“Omar was young with so many hopes and dreams that you stole from him,” according to prosecutors. “You robbed him of his life, you robbed us of our lives with him in it.”
Delgado and Garcia were drinking and talking that night and video even showed them comparing tattoos when Delgado took out a pistol and pulled back the slide, then put it back, at least three times before shooting Garcia.
After the shooting, Delgado and his girlfriend hurriedly packed up and drove away from the casino as authorities gathered for what was initially reported as a mass shooting.
They were stopped at Highway 50 and Tamarack Pines by El Dorado County Sheriff’s deputies who were on the lookout for the couple’s Toyota 4Runner.
“The Douglas County District Attorney’s Office commends the swift action of the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and the many allied agencies who responded to the early morning “active shooter” call from the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino last March 2023,” District Attorney Mark Jackson said.
