San Antonio – The family of a man who was shot and killed is speaking out against gun violence in hopes that people will think twice before pulling a trigger.
Justin Garcia, 22, was allegedly killed at the hands of a minor who San Antonio police said was arguing with him moments before the shooting.
Kassandra Garcia and Kimberly Gutierrez, Garcia’s two older sisters, said they were getting ready to go to church that Sunday morning when they got the call.
“It was just unbelievable,” said Gutierrez. “We just could not believe it. It was like ‘No! It is not him.’ But when we got the confirmation, it was heartbreaking.”
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San Antonio police said Garcia was arguing with his girlfriend before the minor came out of a bedroom with a pistol and allegedly pulled the trigger.
“You know, just like every couple, my brother and his girlfriend had their ups and downs,” Kassandra Garcia said. “They had been together for a while and had just gone out with each other. For somebody else to handle the situation and the way he handled the situation was unnecessary. He didn’t have to pull out a gun. The gun was unnecessary; it wasn’t needed. My brother had nothing on him. He didn’t have anything to defend himself with. It was a senseless act."
Since Garcia’s death, Gutierrez said they cherish their family members more than ever now.
“Ever since he passed, all we have been telling our family is, ‘I love you! I love you!’ That is all we can say.”
“You have to hold your loved ones close,” Kassandra Garcia said. “No matter how much you fight with your siblings or family members, they are your blood.”
Raymond Garcia Junior, Garcia’s cousin, said during a fundraising event that he truly missed Garcia.
“He was a beautiful soul,” Raymond Garcia Jr. said. “He just lost his dad in 2014 and all he wanted to do is do things the right way with his dad and live in his dad’s memory. His life was cut too short. It is just beautiful to know how much his friends and how much he was involved and how many people who actually cared and loved him because he was a caring and loving person himself."
Garcia leaves behind his two-year-old son.
“He wanted to do anything for his son,” Kassandra Garcia said. “Everything that motivated him, it was his son.”
His sisters said they were babysitting his son when the shooting took place.
“His son will never know how good of a father he had, but that is what we are here for,” Kassandra Garcia said. “We will make sure he knows how great of a man he was and how much he loved and cared for others.”
As the family heals through this loss and as they continue to raise money for a proper burial for Garcia, they hope others will learn a lesson from this tragedy.
“We understand that anger gets the best of us, but you really need to think about it. It is not worth taking somebody’s life. You don’t know the legacy that they could leave behind, and you don’t know the people it will affect. Once you make that decision, what is done is done. There is no taking it back or saying sorry. You need to just think.”
