Alex Garcia Sentenced to 30 Years for 2000 I-84 Murder

Alex Garcia, 38, of Danbury, was sentenced today to 360 months in federal prison for the cold-blooded murder of Mark Rebong on Interstate 84 in January 2000. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Alker Meyer handed down the 30-year sentence, which will run concurrently with an unrelated 40-year state sentence Garcia is already serving. The execution-style killing, carried out in a gang-fueled drive-by shooting, went unsolved for years before a breakthrough tied Garcia directly to the crime.

At 11:02 p.m. on January 17, 2000, Mark Rebong was found slumped in the driver’s seat of his idling car near Exit 2 in Danbury, shot once in the head. He was driving to work—unarmed, uninvolved, and entirely innocent of any gang ties or criminal activity. The bullet that killed him was fired not in self-defense, but as retaliation in a bloody turf war between the Latin Kings and the Crips.

Court documents reveal Garcia was a confirmed member of the Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation. The violence escalated after a high-ranking Crip was shot on December 28, 1999. Weeks later, while riding westbound on I-84 as a passenger, Garcia was ordered by the driver—a senior Latin King—to open fire on a nearby vehicle. Garcia complied, unleashing two rounds from an assault rifle. One struck Rebong in the head, ending his life in an instant.

Mark Rebong was 32 years old. He had no connection to gangs, no criminal record, and posed no threat. His murder was not personal—it was random, brutal, and symbolic, a message fired into the night from a moving car. For 16 years, his family endured silence and uncertainty, waiting as investigators chipped away at a case buried in gang loyalty and street code.

“In a reckless act of brutal violence, this defendant murdered an innocent young man who was driving to work,” said U.S. Attorney Deirdre M. Daly. She credited the relentless work of the Danbury Police, Connecticut State Police, and DEA agents who refused to let the case die. “The Rebong family showed patience and courage and dignity throughout this ordeal. Hopefully, they’ve found a measure of solace in this result.”

Garcia pleaded guilty on June 15, 2016, to one count of use of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. The investigation was led by the Drug Enforcement Administration, Danbury Police Department, and Connecticut State Police Western District Major Crime Squad, with support from the Connecticut Department of Correction and the Danbury State’s Attorney’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Lee Dayton prosecuted the case.

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