Imagine being shot just because of your name!! Well that is exactly what the family and the police believe may have happened to twenty three year old Leon Garcia. Last night just after 10 pm, the young man was on his way to visit his girlfriend when he was confronted by three armed masked men at the corner of Seagull and Antelope Streets. There was no exchange of words only the sound of gun fire. Four of the bullets caught Leon Garcia to his right rib, right side of the back and left leg. He was rushed to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital where tonight he is in critical condition.
Today his mother Janet Anderson who did not wish to appear on camera told 7NEWS that the only explanation she can give as to why anyone want him dead is that the gunmen mistook her child for someone else. It’s an important point because another Leon Garcia was known to have been an enemy of Robert “Black” Jones. So when the word went out that Leon Garcia had been shot hours after black was killed it was assumed to be an act of retaliation. But it was not, or if so, it was visited on the wrong Leon Garcia. Today the mother of this Leon Garcia told us her son is a victim.
Jacqueline Godwin,
Janet how is Leon doing?
Janet Anderson, Mother of Shooting Victim
“Well the doctor said that he is not out of the woods yet. He has a ruptured kidney, lung, he has a spine that is also ruptured, I can feel it from outside that it has a little spike outside but the doctor says he has youth on his side so we don’t have to be too much worried about it because he has a lot of youth on his side, he is 23 years old so I guess that is what making him be strong because he has a lot of youth.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
Why does the family believe he was shot?
Janet Anderson,
“Well I really don’t know because he left from here going to his girlfriend’s house and probably like two or three bike lengths and he would have been at his girlfriend’s house when that happened.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
People believe it was a case of mistaken identity. Does the family believe this is what happened?
Janet Anderson,
“I think so too because according to they have two or three Leon Garcias and my son is certainly not the person that they said is involved in any other thing. Not my Leon Garcia, probably another Leon Garcia but not my one.”
Police say they have no suspects at this time.
