Teen accused of killing Fort Worth friend was trying to protect him, victim’s father says
On the night of June 27, Jesus Diaz was in the backseat of a car with his friend Alejandro “Alex” Garcia.
Just hours later, Diaz would be accused of fatally shooting Garcia, who was a recent graduate of Castleberry High School.
Family members of Garcia say Diaz may have only been trying to protect Garcia and other teens from a group of men who attempted to pull them out of a car and assault them after an argument over paintballs.
Those family members also are raising questions about why those men have not been charged with any crimes.
That incident ignited a chase last month that ended with the shooting death of 17-year-old Alex Garcia.
“They are still kids,” said Santiago Garcia of Fort Worth, Alex Garcia’s father. “An adult walks up to them and threatens them. They (the kids) didn’t know what to do but run. And their friends were only trying to protect them.”
At some point on the night of June 27, Diaz exited the car which was occupied by Garcia and other teens. Diaz got into an black sport utility vehicle driven by Alfredo Orta.
Diaz and Orta are charged with murder in the shooting. Diaz, 18, of Sansom Park, is accused of firing the weapon that killed Garcia and Orta, 17, of Fort Worth, was driving the SUV in which Diaz was riding in at the time of the shooting, police said.
Friends and family members of Alex Garcia said this week that if Diaz did fire the weapon, it was an accident that the bullet hit Garcia. Diaz fired multiple times at a truck that was chasing Garcia and other teens in a car, according to a warrant.
That truck was occupied by the one of the men who threatened the teens and tried to pull them out of a car on a driveway of a north Fort Worth home, Garcia’s family said.
“That man yelled out that he was ‘bringing heat’,” Santiago Garcia said.
Fort Worth police said the assault allegations have been investigated.
“We have information that the man was confronting them (the teens) about a criminal mischief incident done to his personal property and that a car door was opened to speak with the possible suspects,” said Fort Worth police spokesman Buddy Calzada in an email. “We do not have information that any individuals were pulled out of a vehicle.”
The arrest warrant for Jesus Diaz stated that the man and another adult approached a white Dodge Challenger on the night of June 27 and attempted to get several teens out of the vehicle. Santiago Garcia’s 17-year-old daughter, his son Alex Garcia, Jesus Diaz and three other teens were in the Dodge Challenger.
The man later was interviewed by detectives, but he was not charged with any crimes related to the incident on June 27.
The man could not be reached for comment.
“Once they (police) focused on the kids, they never bothered to followup on the assault,” said Valerie Mireles of Fort Worth, a friend of the Garcia family.
A group of teens which included Garcia stood around on a driveway of a home in north Fort Worth on the night of June 27 when an unknown man walked up to them and confronted them about whether they had been shooting his vehicle with paintballs.
The group denied it and the man said, “Bet,” and walked back to his home, according to the warrant obtained by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The warrant was written by Detective T.S. O’Brien.
The group got into the white Dodge Challenger and began to back up out of the driveway when a black SUV driven by their friend, Orta, stopped in the street.
The man who had originally confronted the teens returned with other men and reportedly threatened the teens in the Dodge Challenger. Diaz and Garcia were in the backseat of the Challenger.
“They were trying to get us out of the car,” said one of the teens who was in the car on the night of June 27. He talked to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on the condition that his name not be used for fear of retaliation from the men.
The driver of Dodge Challenger pulled out and drove a few blocks away from the scene. Orta followed in his black SUV, but stopped for a few seconds as Diaz got out of the car and jumped into the SUV.
As the SUV and Challenger drove past his home, the owner of a Ford F-150 in the neighborhood told police he heard several gunshots as if they were shooting in the air. He got into his truck and began to follow the two vehicles to get license plate information for the police.
The teens said the man in the Ford F-150 was the man who attempted to assault them.
Minutes later, witnesses in the Dodge Challenger said they saw the white Ford F-150.
The truck passed the black SUV, but it slightly collided with the SUV.
When the truck was behind the Challenger, a witness in the car said he heard a gunshot that broke his back window, according to the warrant.
The driver of the truck also reported his back window was hit, causing him to turn off and go home. He later told police he didn’t have a gun.
The SUV was behind the truck, according to the warrant.
At some point, Diaz who was in the SUV, fired three to four times at the Ford F-150 and the Dodge Challenger was directly in front of the truck, according to the warrant.
Teens in the Dodge Challenger said at some point they realized Garcia had been shot and drove to a QuikTrip parking lot on Main Street where they waited for police and paramedics.
Diaz and Orta were arrested a few days later.
Diaz was in the Tarrant County Jail on Thursday in lieu of $100,000 bond. Orta was in the same jail Thursday in lieu of $250,000 bond.
Garcia never made it to his graduation ceremony. It was scheduled on June 19 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth and Garcia was there with his family, but it was postponed because of severe weather that day.
It was rescheduled for July 17 at W.O. Barnes Stadium in Fort Worth, Castleberry High School’s home field. Garcia’s family attended the ceremony as school officials recognized the 17-year-old as a graduate.
This story was originally published July 24, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
