Sep 5, 2008 1:15 pm US/Pacific
Teen Center To Be Named After Slain Councilman
FAIRFIELD (CBS13) ―
A soon to open teen center in Fairfield will be named after a slain city councilman who focused his career on teens and died this morning after being shot in the head four days ago.
Matt Garcia, 22, died around 6 a.m., according to a nursing supervisor at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek. His body was taken to the Contra Costa County Coroner's Office, where an autopsy was conducted.
This afternoon, city officials announced that a new teen center slated to open in October will now be named after Matt Garcia. The center was to be named after another person, but that man's family gave up the naming rights to allow Garcia's name to be used.
Meanwhile, police continued searching for the gunman, who fired multiple shots at Garcia while he was talking in a friend's driveway Monday night. His family kept him on life support for several days to donate his organs.
The unindentified suspect is described as a man in his late teens or early 20s who left the scene in a mid-90s, American model sedan. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Garcia's killer.
And there are new developments being reported in the investigation.
On Wednesday, police were seen escorting a woman from the home where the shootings occurred. Inside sources identify her as Jennifer Tarbell.
According to our CBS-sister station in San Francisco, detectives discovered some discrepancies in Tarbell's accounts of the shooting.
They have seized her cell phone apparently looking at text messages that were sent to Garcia minutes before the shooting. Police also seized a computer from the home.
So far, investigators have not named Tarbell a person of interest nor have they named any suspects in the shooting.
One of the youngest elected officials in California, Garcia was just 21 when he was sworn in 10 months ago to help lead this city of 105,000, about 40 miles northeast of San Francisco. He campaigned on the slogan, "Change For Fairfield," vowing to focus on crime prevention, economic development, community growth and keeping Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield.
At a prayer service Thursday night, hundreds gathered in one of many tributes to the young politician. Garcia's parents attended the service, but requested privacy.
"He loved this town and wanted to make it safer and a better place," said Anita Andrade, who attended the service.
A viewing was scheduled for Monday evening and a memorial for Tuesday afternoon at Armijo High School, his alma mater.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
