Inset: Angelo Garcia (Miami Dade Corrections & Rehabilitation Center). Background: The front door of the home where a 75-year-old woman celebrating her birthday was allegedly shot by Angelo Garcia (WPLG/YouTube).
In a shocking incident during a family gathering in Miami, a Florida woman’s 75th birthday celebration turned into a scene of violence. The woman, her son, and another attendee were injured in a shooting allegedly carried out by a disgruntled neighbor, police report.
The suspect, identified as 38-year-old Angelo Garcia, reportedly approached the party in the early hours of Friday morning with a specific grievance. According to an arrest report obtained by WPLG, Garcia was in search of an individual who had supposedly offended him. When he couldn’t find this person, he allegedly turned his frustration on the party-goers.
Authorities recount that Garcia showed up at the residence around 1 a.m., demanding to know the whereabouts of the person he claimed had wronged him. A victim informed Garcia that the person he was seeking was in Cuba, not present at the festivities, WPLG reports.
Surveillance footage captured Garcia interacting with individuals in the front yard where the birthday celebration was taking place. According to police, the video then shows him opening fire on the group.
Before the gunshots rang out, the birthday celebrant reported to the police that Garcia was seen hurling rocks at parked cars, as mentioned by local NBC affiliate WTVJ. This erratic behavior escalated into violence when he allegedly began shooting.
After the attack, Garcia fled, leaving the 75-year-old woman, her 53-year-old son, and a 26-year-old man wounded. Fortunately, all three survived the ordeal. The search for Garcia concluded with his arrest, as reported by WSVN, a local Fox and ABC affiliate.
Garcia was later taken into custody by SWAT and local law enforcement, who busted down the door of a room at The Comfort Suites Miami-Kendall that he was holed up in early Saturday.
“It was almost 2 a.m.,” hotel patron Tito Polaco told WPLG about Garcia’s arrest. “I was in bed watching TV and then I heard those six or seven ‘BOOMs.’”
The 75-year-old and two others who were shot were transported to a local hospital with multiple gunshot wounds. The 26-year-old was in serious condition. The 53-year-old was in serious but stable condition, as was his mother.
“Nothing like this has ever happened here before. It’s a good area,” neighbor Alfredo Cruz told local CBS affiliate WFOR. “I have never seen anything like this.”
Another neighbor, Carla Perez Miranda, told WTVJ that she heard “six shots go off” and a woman screaming. “You killed them!” the woman reportedly said in Spanish, according to Miranda.
Garcia faces four counts of second-degree attempted murder or aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, displaying a firearm while committing a felony, and unlawful discharge of a firearm in a residential property, inmate records show. He was being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in Miami-Dade County over the weekend.
