THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 27, 1996 TAG: 9607270254
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ANGELITA PLEMMER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: 98 lines
The man entrusted to care for 7-year-old Blanca H. Garcia, who was killed after she was caught in a gunfight, was charged with her murder Friday night, according to police.
Lamario A. Cooper now faces eight new charges: first-degree murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, malicious wounding, use of a firearm, possession of drugs with the intent to distribute, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of a firearm with drugs and shooting into an occupied dwelling, police said Friday night.
Cooper is being held at the Portsmouth City Jail for the July 22 shooting death of Blanca in Portsmouth after an argument between him and two other men erupted into gunfire.
Before Portsmouth police detectives levied additional charges against him Friday night, Cooper had been facing a single malicious wounding charge for the incident.
In an interview from the Portsmouth City Jail before he was charged with murder Friday, Cooper said he did not fire the shot that killed the vivacious summer-school student who charmed classmates and teachers at St. Helena Elementary School in Norfolk.
He said he wished he could have taken the bullet instead.
Cooper, 25, questioned why he alone faced the malicious wounding charge filed against him earlier this week. He said he was acting in self-defense and that he had 10 bullet holes in his body. Cooper was treated at a local hospital and released.
Cooper, who sometimes appeared dazed and confused in the interview, is in jail without bond pending arraignment on Monday. He said he should not be held responsible for Blanca's death.
``I just want (Blanca's mother) to know that I did everything within my power to prevent this,'' Cooper said, red eyes watering. ``I took 10 holes and would have taken another two holes for her daughter. It wouldn't have been nothing for me.
``If it would have been me - I wish it was,'' he said. ``(Blanca) didn't deserve that.''
Police would not comment on Cooper's version of the shooting. Detectives have released few details. Four days after the shooting, police refuse to release the names of the two other men Cooper says were involved. The men, who were wounded, have not been charged.
Cooper said he met Blanca's mother, Suzette Garcia, about a year and a half ago. They hung out sometimes at a friend's home in Norfolk. Cooper said Monday was the first time he was entrusted with Blanca alone.
Earlier that day, Cooper said, he and several friends were hanging out at a home in Norfolk with Garcia's two daughters, Blanca and Yesenia.
Cooper said he was going to Portsmouth to see if his roommate needed a ride. He said Garcia and the others knew he had an errand to run and asked if he would stop at a convenience store for some snacks on the way back.
Before he left, Cooper said, his pager went off. He said he called the number and a man asked to meet him later that day. Cooper said the man did not explain what he wanted. He said he told the man to meet him at his apartment in Portsmouth.
As he was leaving, Cooper said, Blanca ran out to ask if she could come along. Cooper said yes and Blanca's mother agreed.
Blanca and Cooper left in his black 1987 Maxima. As they headed to Portsmouth, Blanca asked to use the bathroom. He said he decided to go to his apartment on the first block of Webster St. in Portsmouth.
Cooper and Blanca arrived at the Park View home and went to a third-floor apartment, where he showed Blanca the bathroom.
Cooper said he had just taken a seat in the living room when the downstairs doorbell rang. He went down and saw two men, who walked up to the apartment and had a discussion with Cooper. Cooper refused to reveal details of the conversation.
One of the men became angry during the conversation, Cooper said, and pulled out a semi-automatic weapon.
``He turned the gun sideways and started shooting,'' Cooper said, putting his hands across his face. ``He was shooting directly at my chest.''
Cooper said as he started to stand and run, several more bullets pierced his lower back, buttocks and the back of both legs. He said the other man began running toward a rifle in the living room, but Cooper grabbed it first.
As Cooper was chasing the men into his kitchen area, he said, he heard a couple of shots fired. He said those were the shots that struck Blanca.
Cooper said he fired several shots at the men, then retreated to a living room window, laid down the rifle, kicked out the screen and jumped onto a second-floor deck, then to the ground.
Covered in blood, Cooper said he sprinted through a neighbor's home, saw a woman he recognized and asked her to go help Blanca at the apartment.
He said he ran until he collapsed in front of a house, where a woman took him to Portsmouth General Hospital.
Cooper, formerly in the Navy and now unemployed, said he was not told that Blanca was dead until late Monday night.
Cooper insisted his shots did not kill Blanca.
``Before I even fired my weapon, there were shots fired either in the kitchen or the hallway,'' Cooper said. ``I believe that those shots that were fired were intended for Blanca.''
In an unrelated incident, Cooper was charged in Norfolk with drug possession with intent to distribute. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by BILL TIERNAN, The Virginian-Pilot
Lamario A. Cooper is in jail without bond pending a hearing Monday
on a murder charge and seven other charges.
KEYWORDS: SHOOTING MURDER by CNB