Grand jury indicts man in Kissimmee hookah bar killing; alleged accomplice agrees to testify
The prime suspect in a shooting last November that killed a man outside a Kissimmee hookah bar was handed a murder indictment this week — about a month after his alleged accomplice made a deal with prosecutors to testify against him.
A grand jury charged Christopher Garrett, 31, with first-degree murder Wednesday, nearly a year after 25-year-old Joshua Mitchell was fatally shot in the parking lot outside Café Lungo. Garrett was arrested months later by authorities in Columbus, Ohio.
On Nov. 13, Mitchell and his girlfriend hopped between several bars before going to Café Lungo where they met with Garrett and his companion, Joshua Franceschi. The woman told investigators Mitchell knew Franceschi from an altercation weeks earlier, when he deescalated an unspecified incident "involving Franceschi and a gun."
Still, the men drank together early the morning of Nov. 14 as Mitchell's girlfriend slept in the truck parked outside the bar. Surveillance video, investigators said, showed a moment at 4:12 a.m. when Garrett moved "to a position of advantage" on Mitchell before he was struck by Franceschi, followed by Garrett firing a single shot.
The pair then fled in an SUV minutes before deputies arrived on the scene. Mitchell was pronounced dead at the hospital. It's not clear what prompted the shooting.
Franceschi, 29, was wanted as an accomplice to the murder but evaded authorities until Sept. 26, when he was taken to a hospital under a fake name after being hit by a car, according to an arrest affidavit.
He was charged with being a principal to murder but agreed to plead no contest to battery. In exchange for a yearlong probation, he will testify in the murder case against Garrett, according to court filings.
Garrett is currently in the Osceola County Jail without bond. His arraignment is scheduled for Tuesday — two days before the anniversary of the shooting.
