Shooting of girl began with traffic dispute

Associated Press

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.

Alan Garcia had just picked up his two children from school when it happened. He was trying to get off a freeway, and another car forced him out of his lane.

Garcia gestured toward the other driver and swore at him. Then, authorities said, the seemingly trivial episode turned deadly. A man in the other car opened fire on Garcia’s pickup truck, hitting his 4-year-old daughter in the head and shocking New Mexico’s largest city.

The apparent road-rage slaying began with one vehicle cutting off another, police said Thursday, two days after the fatal confrontation.

The suspect, identified as Tony Torrez, continued to pursue Garcia’s truck and fired twice more, according to a criminal complaint released Thursday. Garcia pulled over and tried to give first aid to his dying little girl as a bystander called 911.

When help arrived, Lilly Garcia was lying on the tailgate of her father’s truck in the median, bleeding heavily.

Police said Torrez, who was arrested Wednesday, admitted firing on the family as they traveled on Interstate 40, Albuquerque’s main east-west freeway. He has been charged with murder, assault, child abuse and other crimes. He made a court appearance from jail via video as a judge reviewed the terms of his $650,000 cash-only bond.

“This is possibly one of the most wanton and atrocious acts in the history of this city,” Judge Chris Schultz said.

According to the complaint, police received an anonymous tip from a caller who alleged that the 32-year-old had admitted shooting the child after Garcia’s truck tried to run him off the road.