Girlfriend of Man Fatally Shot Outside Church Says Shooting Could have Been Prevented

One day after her boyfriend was shot and killed, Judy Garcia is in shock.

As Ms. Garcia was getting into the car after mass at St. Elizabeth’s Catholic Church on Sunday evening, her boyfriend Orestes “West” Garza walked her to the car door.  Then, Ms. Garcia said, she watched in horror as Garza was chased down and shot in the back four times by her ex-husband, Pete Garcia Jr.

Garza died from his wounds and Garcia turned himself in to Levelland Police on Sunday. Garcia was booked into the Hockley County Jail on Sunday, then transferred to the Lubbock County Detention Center on murder charges. 

Back at home in Levelland, surrounded by family,  Ms. Garcia tearfully tries to process what she calls a “senseless” crime

In an interview Monday with EverythingLubbock.com, Ms. Garcia explained that Pete Garcia Jr. was her husband for 32 years, but they separated in March of 2015, then divorced in October.  She said she began dating Mr. Garza after the divorce and fell in love.  She added that she, Mr. Garcia, and  Garza all grew up in Levelland together.  Ms. Garcia also noted that she and Garza were middle school sweethearts whose paths drifted apart for a while.

Ms. Garcia was not only angered by the shooting, but also by the fact that it wasn’t prevented. Ms. Garcia said her ex-husband had been following her and Garza for months, making threats. She added that she’d reported these cases with both Levelland and Lubbock Police and she doesn’t feel those threats were properly investigated.

She recounted what happened when Garza was shot:

“When we were walking out of that church, and [Garza] opened up the passenger door so that I could get in and he closed the door–he was such a gentleman–he got out behind the truck to get out on [the driver’s] side, he comes around and I can hear him yelling ‘Help me! Help me!’ and Pete [Garcia] is standing right behind him with the gun in his hand, with the gun almost on his back.  He starts firing at West,” Ms. Garcia explained through tears. “I started screaming and I jumped out of the truck and West is already laying there and Pete is running off.”

Ms. Garcia said she tried to talk to Garza while he was on the ground, but he couldn’t make out words. As she was saying the Lord’s Prayer over Garza, police officers arrived at the scene.

“All the police officers, they all want statements, and they all want to know what happened, and what’s going on, and can you tell me this? Can you tell me that?” Ms. Garcia said. “It makes me so furious, why did they want to know then, why didn’t they want to know when we tried talking them for so many months and telling them this is going to happen? It doesn’t even matter now, West is gone, it doesn’t matter what questions they ask, nothing is gonna bring him back,”

The warrant for Mr. Garcia’s arrest detailed that Ms. Garcia said she told Lubbock Police two weeks prior that her ex-husband had bought a gun and made threats about using it to “fix the problem.”

EverythingLubbock.com reached out to Lubbock Police who, upon checking their records, found one case where Garza was the victim of an assault in December of 2015. LPD said that case was investigated and filed at the DA’s office. They found another case in July where Garza was the victim of a threat of assault. However, LPD didn’t find any record of restraining orders involving either Garza or Mr. Garcia. 

Ms. Garcia said her ex-husband followed her and Mr. Garza as they drove around Levelland.

Ms. Garcia said that since her divorce, Mr. Garcia had been calling her repeatedly and showing up unwanted at her work.

“I was seeing a chiropractor and I would walk out and he would be sitting in my car,” Ms. Garcia explained. She said her ex-husband would also show up at her dentist appointments, her office, or next to her car when she would walk into a parking lot.

“He said the devil had a hold of me and I wasn’t in my right senses,” she said.” but I would tell him, I wasn’t going to come back to him”

Ms. Garcia said, to her recollection, she reported these incidents when her ex-husband followed her.

She also said that when she told Lubbock Police that her ex-husband had threatened to use his gun on Mr. Garza, she was told that police couldn’t do anything to help her, especially because she hadn’t actually seen the gun Mr. Garcia referenced.

“We reached out to Levelland Police department, Lubbock Police department, our attorney,  through legal aid we were trying to get protective orders. It’s not like we didn’t try to keep this from happening. We tried so hard, nobody helped us,” Ms. Garcia explained.

She acknowledged that she’s not an expert in law enforcement, but she feels disappointed with the lack of support she received.

“I’m sure we’re not the only ones this has happened to and if things aren’t handled differently, it’s gonna happen again,” she said.

Ms. Garcia also believes that her ex-husband was behind Garza losing his recent positions as a music minister at two different churches.

Despite that, she explained that she and Garza would pray for Mr. Garcia every night, praying that he would find peace and comfort.

Ms. Garcia recognized her divorce was hard for her family members, for a while her only son wasn’t speaking with her afterward. But she explained that recently, she and her son were able to reconcile and her son also was able to make amends with Garza.

“I don’t know what’s gonna happen for the families, but I know that [Garza] is looking down and I know he’s concerned, he doesn’t want that, I feel that for him to rest he needs to see that both sides are at peace,” Ms. Garcia said.

While she attempts to muster forgiveness for her ex-husband, Ms. Garcia said she can barely take each minute at a time knowing that Garza is gone.

As she grieves, she remembers Garza as someone who is generous, simple, and kind.

She recalled that Garza would drop what he was doing to volunteer to sing at funerals, because he wanted to help families in the community alleviate their pain.

“He was blessed with a beautiful voice, he loved performing, he loved entertaining, but more than anything he loved the blessing of sharing his voice with the church ministry,” she said of Garza.

Garza was a beloved musician in the Lubbock community who was especially well-known for his performances at the Cactus Theater.

“He was more than just a performer, more than a beautiful voice, he was a beautiful person,” Ms. Garcia said.”That’s what mattered to me most, I fell in love with the person, I don’t care if he sang like a frog, that’s the part I’m gonna miss.”