Memorial grows where teen slain (Colorado)

Print By Bianca Prieto, Rocky Mountain News


LONGMONT - Jesus Vega crossed the street in northern Longmont at sunset Sunday and placed a single red rose at a makeshift memorial for his friend who was murdered there the night before.

Seventeen-year-old Martin Garcia was brutally beaten with baseball bats and stabbed with a large knife by 10 men in their late teens and early 20s about 6:30 p.m. Saturday.

Longmont police believe the murder was gang-related. Police have not made any arrests but have several leads, they said.

"I feel sorry for my friends," said Vega, 20, who knew Garcia by his nickname "Bouncer." "It's not good to lose somebody very young."

Several bouquets of flowers, cards and a wooden cross were placed on the ground at the memorial, on the southern side of the Rainbow Children's Center, a day care near 21st Avenue and Collyer Street where Garcia was killed.

Someone had written in chalk Descanse en Paz - "Rest in Peace" in Spanish - and "We will miss you Bouncer" on the sidewalk.

"I feel that it is a waste of a life," said Krysteal Nitzel, a 16-year-old sophomore at Skyline High School in Longmont. She didn't know Garcia, but stopped to see the memorial.

"It's happening too much," she said. "I don't know how anyone could take a life."

Residents in the area are concerned about the violence, they said.

One woman, who did not want to be identified because she fears repercussions, said she wants to form a neighborhood watch group so neighbors can get to know each other better.

"It's always been a quiet neighborhood," she said. "To have someone murdered within a few feet of your home is shocking, but not until something happens do you begin to notice."

In the past year the neighborhood has seen an increase in gang taggings and a meth lab in the area was busted, she said.

Another woman, who has lived in the neighborhood for more than 20 years, says she doesn't want violence and gangs in her neighborhood.

"I feel like we're in the middle of a gang war," she said, shaking her head. "What's next? A drive-by?"

She, too, asked not to be identified.

Around the corner, cars slowed as they passed and groups of people gathered around the memorial. Some prayed, while others wrote on two pieces of poster board that had been placed there.

Longmont police are searching for the 10 suspects and two vehicles, a green or gray 1990s model Cadillac DeVille and a gray or silver 1990s model Mercury Marquis.

Anyone with information about the slaying is asked to call Longmont police at 303-651-8501.
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