• March 28, 2024

Hundreds Mourn Death of Army Veteran Who Survived Afghanistan, But Murdered On L.A. Streets

Hundreds gathered Sunday at a makeshift sidewalk memorial in Los Angeles to honor an Army soldier who had been gunned down hours earlier, just months after returning from the treacherous battlefields of Afghanistan.

Francisco Garcia, 21, was killed moments after leaving a party that had carried in to Sunday’s wee hours when an unknown assailant pulled up in a car, confronted him and then fired the deadly shot, police said. Garcia, who had been honorably discharged after an 18-month stint in Afghanistan and hoped to become a California Highway Patrol officer, was pronounced dead at the scene.

November 9, 2014: A cousin of Francisco Garcia sits near a makeshift memorial to the Army veteran in Sylmar, Calif. (MyFoxLA.com)
November 9, 2014: A cousin of Francisco Garcia sits near a makeshift memorial to the Army veteran in Sylmar, Calif. (MyFoxLA.com)

“The ironies are obvious,” Los Angeles Police Department Lt. Paul Vernon toldKTLA-TV in Los Angeles.  “To survive as a soldier in an overseas conflict, only to be killed in your old neighborhood upon your return.”

Garcia’s friends said he finished his tour of duty in Afghanistan just weeks ago. Garcia had recently become engaged and looked forward to starting a family, friends said. Just last week, he wrote on Facebook that his application to join the California Highway Patrol Academy had been accepted.

Source: Fox News

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