22-year-old Fairfield city councilman Matt Garcia, one of the youngest elected officials in the nation, was shot in the back of the head while talking with a friend in a normally peaceful neighborhood in this city of 105,000 along Interstate 80 about 50 miles southwest of Sacramento.
Garcia was shot around 8:30 p.m. last night as he exited his car in the 5000 block of Silverado Drive where he was visiting a friend.
At a news conference this afternoon at City Hall, Lt. Bob Bunting said the shooter fired multiple shots from a handgun or a rifle, one of which struck Garcia in the back of the head.
The shooter, described as about 5 feet 9 inches tall with a medium build, was driving an American-made sedan, police said. After the shooting, he fled toward Cordelia.
A witness to the shooting could not say if there was anyone else in the vehicle, Bunting said.
Police located small-caliber shell casings about 50 yards from where Garcia was found. They have been sent to the Department of Justice in Sacramento.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has offered a $50,000 reward for information about the shooting, Police Chief Kenton Rainey said.
Mayor Harry Price and other city officials joined family members and friends overnight at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek, where Garcia was taken after the shooting.
The family decided this morning to take Garcia off life support.
A former prom king and student government leader who lived his whole life in Fairfield, Garcia was elected to the City Council in November 2007 at age 21. Colleagues say he hit the ground running, making a name for himself by establishing a youth commission and helping the council negotiate through a $7-million budget deficit without raising taxes or firing workers.
(via L.A. Times/CBS5)
This guy was really amazing. Not only was he so young, but he was unbelievably involved with everything that went on in this community and was a strong advocate for positive change.
HOLY SHIT!! life has got me down and this made me upset.