Dad of two shot dead as wife looks onBy CECILY ASSON Sunday, March 15 2009
click on pic to zoom in
MURDERED: John Garcia, 22....
FIVE-month-old Joseph Israel Garcia and his two-year-old sister Isabella, were yesterday added to the list of young children who have lost their fathers by the gun for the year thus far.
John Garcia, 22, of Stol Road, Palo Seco, became the country’s 117th murder victim when he was shot dead while walking home on Friday night.
At about 8.30 pm, Garcia, a construction worker, was walking with his common-law wife Elizabeth James, 20, when two masked men confronted him with guns. A police report said that an argument ensued between Garcia and the men who were dressed in camouflage outfits. Garcia was shot in the back of the head and as he slumped to the ground, the report stated, James raised an alarm. The bleeding man was rushed to the Point Fortin District Hospital and then transferred to the San Fernando General Hospital where he later succumbed to the gunshot wounds.
Snr Supt Krishna Maharaj along with a team of police officers, visited the scene and cordoned off the area.
The couple had two children — Joseph Israel and Isabella — and yesterday, James told the Sunday Newsday that her husband’s killing was senseless. “He never had problems with anyone or with the law. The only incident we could recall is two weeks ago, when his brother-in-law was assaulted during an attempted robbery, and he spoke out against the violence,” James said.
The grieving woman said that she could not fathom a reason why anyone wanted Garcia dead merely because he may have offended the wrong people. “Who would think something so small, a man will kill a next man,” James said. Recalling the confrontation with the masked men, James said when the men confronted her and Garcia on the road as they walked towards their home, their first thought was that the men were pulling a prank on them.
“With guns in their hand, one of the men called him by name and John (Garcia) in turn asked them to identify themselves,” James said. “They didn’t and he warned them about playing those games,” she added.
As the conversation ended, James said one of the men shot him in the head and Garcia collapsed.
“I still don’t believe it really happened,” James said.
Garcia’s sister, Victoria Duncan, 41, told Sunday Newsday that she will leave no stone unturned to find her brother’s killer.
Police officers have since combed the bushes in search of the men, but to no avail. Cpl Sookdeo of the Santa Flora Police Station is conducting enquiries.
