Man arrested in case of slain Costa Mesa repair shop owner was former employee

Costa Mesa police arrested a 31-year-old transient man Monday on suspicion of killing his former employer, the owner of a Harbor Boulevard auto repair shop, whose body was discovered by a customer, officials said.

The Costa Mesa Police Department received a call at 3:22 p.m. Monday from a woman who’d arrived at Gary’s Automotive on the 1900 block of Harbor Boulevard and discovered the business owner unresponsive and slumped over at his desk, according to a release issued by the department Tuesday.

Responding officers found 60-year-old Garbis Yaghlagian deceased from an apparent gunshot wound, police said. Yaghlagian, also goes by the name Gary.

Officials said that during the investigation, officers learned that former employee Francisco Javier Castaneda was seen leaving the business after what a witness described as a loud bang sound.

Police arrested Castaneda after a member of the public called authorities about a suspicious looking man walking in the area of Harbor Boulevard and Victoria Street.

Castaneda was booked in the Costa Mesa jail on suspicion of one count of murder and was later transported to the Orange County Jail where he is being held in custody without bail, the release stated.

On Tuesday, detectives located a handgun they believed may have been used in the crime, according to department spokeswoman Roxi Fyad.

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