Background: The area of the 900 block of Plane Street in Columbia, Pennsylvania, where the shooting occurred (WGAL/YouTube). Inset: Wilfredo Garcia Jr. (Workman Funeral Homes).
A woman in Pennsylvania said her teenage son wished her "good night" before she went to bed — and minutes later, she found him bleeding out from a bullet wound to the head.
Jose Manuel Lopez III, 16, has been charged with third-degree murder in the death of 17-year-old Wilfredo Garcia, the Lancaster County District Attorney's Office announced. The defendant also faces charges of involuntary manslaughter, possession of a firearm by a minor, and three counts of recklessly endangering another person.
On July 18, Garcia was at his home on the 900 block of Plane Street in Columbia, Pennsylvania. The borough is about 85 miles west of Philadelphia.
Garcia's mother — Tamara Rosario — was also home, and she said her son was eating pizza and playing video games with friends.
"The last words I got to hear from my son were, 'Good night, Mom. I love you,'" she told regional NBC affiliate WGAL. After that, she said, she went to bed.
Rosario said she was startled about 15 minutes later by the noise of a gunshot. She reportedly ran to the room where the noise came from and found her son bleeding, sitting on a chair with his head on a table.
The mother called 911 and tried to keep her son awake. "I was telling him, 'Baby, if you're still here, squeeze my hand,'" Rosario said. "He was squeezing my fingers until he finally stopped squeezing my fingers. And I knew my son was gone."
Police officers received a call about a shooting at about 9:45 p.m. that night. They arrived to find the victim "unresponsive," and though they tried to save his life, they "determined Garcia was beyond help."
Investigators said they learned that several others "were inside the room when the weapon was discharged but no one else was struck." Police said they spoke with Lopez — the defendant — and he "initially denied being in the room at the time of the shooting before later admitting to holding the handgun that was fired."
Lopez allegedly "admitted to police that he knew the weapon's magazine was loaded when he pointed it at Garcia with his finger on the trigger." Detectives said they "conducted multiple interviews over a period of more than a week with individuals who were inside the residence the night of the shooting."
Because Lopez is a minor, he was not allowed to have a gun, authorities said, noting that during their investigation, they recovered two guns. Their investigation is ongoing.
Lopez was denied bail during a preliminary arraignment on Tuesday. He is in the Lancaster County Youth Intervention Center with a preliminary hearing scheduled for Aug. 11.
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