THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 24, 1996 TAG: 9607240357
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ANGELITA PLEMMER AND LARRY W. BROWN, STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: 77 lines
For the second time in four months, a young girl from Norfolk's Berkley neighborhood was killed when she was caught in the crossfire during a shootout.
Blanca H. Garcia, 7, of the 400 block of Pendleton St. in Norfolk, died in an apartment in Portsmouth's Park View section after she was caught in an exchange of gunfire Monday night stemming from a dispute involving three men.
Blanca was in an apartment in the first block of Webster Avenue with a male friend of her mother's when an argument broke out between him and two other men.
According to police, Blanca hid in a bathroom in the upstairs apartment of the two-story house when the fight began. When she walked out of the bathroom, one of the men, who was leaving the apartment, fired toward the front door, hitting Blanca in the neck area, a police spokesman said.
Blanca lived about three blocks from the Berkley home of 3-year-old Taylor Ricks, who was killed by a stray bullet April 1.
Taylor was at home with her sisters when she heard what she thought were fireworks. When she lifted the blinds in a second-floor bedroom window, she was hit in the head by a bullet from the nearby shootout.
News of Blanca's murder shook Berkley residents, some of whom are still grappling with Taylor's death.
Terry Lane, who lives in the 400 block of Pendleton St. near Blanca's family, had finished his night shift as a shipyard worker when he came home and heard the news about the shooting.
More and more children are becoming the unfortunate victims of crime, said Lane, 32. ``It's getting out of hand.''
In Taylor's killing, three defendants turned themselves in to police the day after the crime, under pressure from angry, grieving neighbors. They were each charged with murder, attempted murder and two counts of using a firearm in a felony.
Court testimony indicated that a dispute between people involved in a love triangle caused Taylor's death.
On Tuesday, Portsmouth police were investigating Blanca's death. Murder charges are pending.
Police said they were unclear about the motive for the shooting, but that it apparently was not drug-related and did not involve robbery. The shooting may have stemmed from a dispute over a woman.
All three men were injured and were treated at local hospitals. Police have not released their names. The men, who were in their late teens and early 20s, were not residents of the Park View apartment where the shooting occurred, police spokesman Jimmy Ennis said.
One man was shot several times and received treatment at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. He was to be released Tuesday. Another man was treated at Portsmouth General Hospital and released Monday night. A third man was flown to Duke University Hospital for treatment of a hand injury.
After the shooting, two of the men ran out the front door and down the sidewalk. They were spotted by a patrol unit on the way to the crime scene. The two men ran to Portsmouth General Hospital a few blocks away, where they were detained by police.
The third man climbed out the upstairs window, jumped off the roof to the ground and got a ride to Portsmouth General, where he was detained by police and later taken to Sentara Norfolk General.
On Tuesday, there was graphic evidence of the shooting. A path of blood zigzagged about four blocks under a canopy of crape myrtle blossoms. Blood and glass shards littered the front porch of the yellow two-story house. Inside, a woman wearing green plastic gloves was cleaning up.
``It's sad the little girl got killed,'' said Park View resident Allen Harrell, who was walking his 10-month-old daughter, Jasmine, on the sidewalk outside the home where the shooting occurred. ``The only thing (the shooting) makes me do is love (Jasmine) even more.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color map
BETH BERGMAN photo, The Virginian-Pilot
Jimmy Ennis, Portsmouth police spokesman, talks with reporters
Tuesday outside the home on Webster Avenue where Blanca H. Garcia
was killed Monday night.
KEYWORDS: MURDER SHOOTING by CNB