Two children killed, two other family members injured in Gwinnet
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
All four members of the same family were either shot or stabbed in their basement apartment near Lawrenceville, Cpl. Jake Smith told the AJC. Investigators said two boys, ages 1 and 4, were dead at the scene. Another 4-year-old boy was flown to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta in critical condition.
A man identified as the boys' father or stepfather was taken by ambulance to Gwinnett Medical Center in serious condition, Smith said. None of the victims' names was released.
No one was in custody early Thursday, but numerous detectives were working various leads in the case, Smith said.
Residents of the Huntington Falls neighborhood, off Sugarloaf Parkway, said they were shocked by the news. Some told the AJC that homeowners association fees include extra police patrols -- so they consider the neighborhood, near Scenic Highway, to be "extra safe."
"My God, this is crazy," said Jimmy Holland, who's lived in the neighborhood for eight years.
As neighbors gathered outside, investigators were inside the two-story brick home, trying to gather clues from the crime scene.
Police said a 911 call reporting that two children had been killed came in around 6:30 p.m. First responders found the two boys dead at the home, located in the 1100 block of Bridle Path Drive.
A helicopter used the nearby Gwinnett County Fairgrounds as a landing spot before transporting the other injured child, Smith said. The boys' mother was not home at the time and was later found uninjured. The family that lives in the main part of the house also was not home at the time of the killings.
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. - Police in Gwinnett County say they have a person in custody in connection with a horrific double-homicide in Lawrenceville.
Investigators say the bodies of two children, ages 1 and 4, were found Wednesday inside a home on Bridal Path Drive. A third child was critically injured.
Investigators are trying to determine whether the children were shot or stabbed.
Police say the children's father or stepfather was also hurt. The mother and several other children were not home at the time, but have been accounted for.
Authorities have not identified the person held.
that was fast. still no ID on anyone. i can't wait to hear entire story. poor kids.
The suspect's name was not immediately released. Police have called an 11:30 a.m. news conference.
Police said four members of the same family were either shot or stabbed in their basement apartment. Investigators said the two boys, ages 1 and 4, were found dead at the scene. Another 4-year-old boy was flown to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta in critical condition.
A man identified as the boys' father or stepfather was taken by ambulance to Gwinnett Medical Center in serious condition, Cpl. Jake Smith said. None of the victims' names had been released by mid-morning Thursday.
After the attack, the father ran across the street and screamed to his neighbor, "He killed my children!" the neighbor told the AJC.
The father came charging into Lewon Thomas' garage "with a hole in his chest," holding a cell phone and talking to a 911 operator, Thomas said.
"He wanted me to go back and see what happened," said Thomas, who went along with another neighbor. "It was horrific."
Thomas said he did not know the father's name, but knew him casually and occasionally loaned him tools. Thomas said the father believed he knew who was responsible.
"He said it was the ex-boyfriend" of his girlfriend, Thomas said.
Gwinnett County police have charged a 28-year-old man in the stabbing deaths of 1- and 3-year-old boys.
Antonio Cardenas-Rico is being held without bond. Police will release more details on the case at an 11:30 a.m. news conference.
Police said Cardenas-Rico killed 3-year-old Bradley Garcia and 1-year-old Edward Garcia. Another 3-year-old boy also was stabbed in the attack and was critically wounded. Their father, Elvis Garcia, was stabbed multiple times and was in serious condition.
The suspect will have a first appearance hearing at 1:30.
AJC
Antonio Cardenas-Rico is being held in the Gwinnett Detention Center without bond in the attack, which also left two other family members seriously injured.
Cpl. Jake Smith said investigators are still interviewing the dead boys' mother, who was not home at the time of the attack.
Police did not give details on how they caught up with Cardenas-Rico. They said tips led them to a home at 3020 Arden Ridge Drive in Suwanee overnight.
Officers watched the house before moving in on Cardenas-Rico. He was arrested without a fight eight to 10 hours after the attack.
Police said Cardenas-Rico was known to the victim's family, but how they knew each another was unclear.
Police charged Cardenas-Rico with killing 3-year-old Bradley Garcia and 1-year-old Edward Garcia. Another 3-year-old boy was stabbed and was critically wounded. Elvis Garcia, 23, identified as the boys' father or stepfather, was stabbed multiple times and was in serious condition.
"This one shocks the conscience a little bit due to the innocence and youth of the victims," Smith said. "We haven't seen one like this in quite some time."
Cardenas-Rico, wearing a green jail jumpsuit, was escorted into Magistrate Court for a brief first appearance Thursday. Attorney Matthew Crosby was assigned to represent him. He said he had two bank accounts; one was empty and the other contained $1,500.
Cardenas-Rico told the judge through an interpreter he has a wife and two children in Las Vegas. He said he understood his rights.
(02-10-2011, 02:37 PM)Lady Cop Wrote: Cardenas-Rico told the judge through an interpreter he has a wife and two children in Las Vegas. He said he understood his rights.
Man stabbed in Gwinnett child killings had told police of threat
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Elvis Garcia felt certain he knew who had thrust the knife into his chest.
The 23-year-old Lawrenceville-area man had told police a week earlier about a threat on his life.
The man who was stabbed multiple times Wednesday while two boys he said were his sons were killed had gone to Gwinnett County police Feb. 2 to file complaints.
He told them that his ex-girlfriend's current boyfriend had called him because of a dispute between Garcia and the woman, according to incident reports obtained by the AJC Friday. "I will kill you," the man told Garcia, according to one of the reports.
Garcia and his former girlfriend were fighting over the three children they'd had together, according to the reports, obtained Friday by the AJC. He said the boys were with him but that he had not legally established paternity, and he said he would not give his sons to their mother "because of concerns of drug activity" with her current boyfriend, identified in the reports as Patrick Cardenas.
Seven days later, at around 6:30 p.m., police responded to a 911 call at 1110 Bridle Path Drive, a house in the Huntington Falls subdivision. Officers found two dead boys, ages 1 and 3, in the finished basement. They'd been stabbed to death. Another 3-year-old boy, also stabbed, was in critical condition.
Police later charged Antonio Cardenas-Rico, 27, with killing Bradley Garcia, 3, and Edward Garcia, 1.
Cardenas-Rico was being held Friday in the Gwinnett County Detention Center on murder charges. He also was being held for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to jail records.
Gwinnett police have not confirmed whether Cardenas-Rico is the same person whom Garcia accused of threatening him.
A week earlier, when Garcia had gone to police to report the threat, he told them he had no witnesses or recordings of the incident -- essential evidence for a terroristic threatening charge. The reporting officer told Garcia that he should stay somewhere other than his home -- at a place where Cardenas could not find him.
Garcia was staying with his sister when he spoke with police. By the time of the attack though, he had moved back home with the boys.
HA! I SAID IT BACK IN POST 2! IT SMELLED JUST LIKE DARLIE ROUTIER CASE!
The Lawrenceville father accused of stabbing his three sons, killing two, last week had been in and out of the Gwinnett County jail four times.
Gwinnett County jail Elvis Noe Garcia-Nelasco, 23, is charged with murder in the stabbing death of his two children.
On Monday, Sheriff Butch Conway pointed to 23-year-old Elvis Noe-Garcia as an example of why a federal-local partnership that his department participates in, which gives deputies the authority to screen inmates to determine their immigration status, is important.
The program was implemented in Gwinnett in November 2009. Had the program, known as 287(g), been in effect when Noe-Garcia was previously arrested, he would have been identified as an illegal immigrant, Conway said.
"It's just a tragic event and that things worked out like they did," Conway said. "They may have been different if we'd started 287(g) earlier, but as a side note we started as soon as we could get the approval from [the Department of] Homeland Security."
Conway said he applied to join the program in March 3, 2008. The Sheriff's Department was approved July 10, 2009. The program did not get up and running until Nov. 16, 2009.
Noe-Garcia's last arrest on charges of driving without a license, speeding and failure to appear occurred on Oct. 26, 2009, about three weeks before 287(g) started. He was released on bond the same day.
His prior three arrests occurred in 2004 and 2005. They were for minor offenses -- disorderly conduct, loitering and prowling, and violation of probation.
Gwinnett County police said Saturday that Noe-Garcia stabbed his three young boys and himself multiple times and then tried to blame the crimes on the boyfriend of the children's mother.
Two of the boys, 3-year-old Bradley Garcia and 1-year-old Edward Garcia, were found Wednesday evening in the basement apartment of a home near Lawrenceville. Bradley's twin brother, Joshua, remained in critical condition Saturday.
Elvis Noe-Garcia, 23, faces two counts of murder and an aggravated assault charge in connection with the violent crimes. He is being held without bond following a first court appearance Saturday night.
Gwinnett Police spokesman Cpl. Jake Smith said Noe-Garcia has been uncooperative with investigators.
Noe-Garcia's arrest was an odd twist in the aftermath of the crimes, which shocked a quiet neighborhood off Scenic Highway.
Noe-Garcia initially told police he and the children had been stabbed by 28-year-old Antonio Cardenas-Rico, the current boyfriend of the boys' mother. On Feb. 2, Noe-Garcia had approached Gwinnett County police and filed a complaint that indicated Cardenas-Rico had threatened his life. Wednesday evening, Noe-Garcia stabbed himself to make himself appear as a victim.
"The whole story involving the involvement of Cardenas-Rico was entirely fabricated," Smith said Saturday.
Early Thursday, investigators located Cardenas-Rico and he was arrested on murder charges. But investigators found holes in Noe-Garcia's account of what happened, Smith said Saturday. After re-creating the crime scene and gathering evidence, police determined Noe-Garcia was responsible for the stabbing.
Murder charges were dropped against Cardenas-Rico. Both men are believed to be in the country illegally, police said.
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