Parking dispute likely sparked fatal shooting at California apartment complex, documents show

According to court documents, a Long Beach man facing a murder charge for the June shooting death of a 35-year-old man at an apartment complex likely argued with the man and his friends about blocked parking spaces.

Roland Dewayne Barber, 40, was already being held on a separate injury shooting charge when police charged him in the June 16 slaying of David Nevarez at the Pacifica Cove Condominiums in the 5500 block of Ackerfield Avenue.

According to a search warrant filed in Long Beach Superior Court last month, police believe Nevarez was at the apartment complex for a gathering at one of the condos and that a man, described by a 911 caller as possibly using a cane and with his face covered, shot Nevarez following an argument just before 10 p.m.

A resident later told police that a man who lives in one of the condos and walks around the complex with his face covered had “recently become very upset about people blocking his parking spaces,” according to court documents. Detectives discovered that Barber and his wife live in the condo.

That resident also provided detectives with Ring doorbell footage, which showed the victim and his friends walking toward the parking garage near Barber’s parking spaces. Though the shooting itself was not captured on video, one of Nevarez’s acquaintances, whose condo Nevarez was visiting, could be heard yelling “You gotta shoot! You can’t even find a parking spot. You have to shoot like a (expletive)!”

Following the shooting, Barber was driven to downtown Long Beach by his uncle for several hours before returning to the complex between 4:20 and 5:30 a.m. the next morning, according to the search warrant.

Cell phone records show Barber communicating with his wife, who remained at their condo at the time. According to the documents, she told Barber and his uncle around 3:15 a.m. that police were clearing the area and it was safe to return home.

On June 29, nearly two weeks after the shooting, Barber and his wife were parked in their carport when they were “ambushed” by a man armed with a gun. Barber was shot in the arm by a man later identified as 29-year-old Isaac Garcia. Witnesses told detectives that his wife, a security guard, went to their condo to get a handgun and fired multiple shots into Nevarez’s acquaintance’s condo.

According to detectives, the shooting of Barber “at minimum appeared to be in retaliation for the murder” of Nevarez.

Barber and Garcia were both arrested on June 29. Garcia was charged with attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, shooting into an occupied dwelling, and possession of a firearm by a felon.

Before the murder charge was filed, Barber was charged with assault with a deadly weapon, shooting into an occupied dwelling, and felon in possession of a firearm.

While investigating Barber’s criminal history, detectives discovered he was convicted of assault with a firearm in 2008 and sentenced to five years in prison.

He was also convicted of criminal threats in 2014 in connection with another parking dispute in 2013, during which he pulled a knife on a couple at a Buena Park apartment complex during an argument, according to detectives. It was unclear whether he faced jail time for that conviction.

Detectives noted at the time of the search warrant’s filing that they had not yet found the weapon used to kill Nevarez and that it had not been discovered during a search of the Barber’s condo on June 29.

According to court records, Barber’s wife and uncle were later arrested and charged with accessory after the fact.