Family rallies to demand justice for 19-year-old Pedro Garcia

Fullerton, CA – The morning of April 2, family members of Pedro Garcia rallied outside Fullerton City Hall and marched to the nearby police department to demand justice for their son, cousin and nephew. 19-year-old Garcia was killed by Fullerton Police Department (FPD) officers, who shot him almost 30 times after they arrived at the family home on March 15.

During the rally, they shouted chants including “Protect your blocks, against killer cops! No justice, no peace! No racist police!”

Garcia’s mother Gabriela Ordoñez-Campos says the department was called to de-escalate a family argument, and hoped that the police would help, given their prior trust and respect for FPD. She also made it clear that while Garcia had attacked a family member, the police were alerted he had been disarmed. Officers still arrived with their guns ready and shortly after, took Garcia’s life. He was on the lawn as ordered, with his arms in the air and proceeded to lift his shirt to show he had nothing in his waistband, which was when FPD opened fire.

Multiple witnesses, including many of Garcia’s family, make it clear that he had nothing on him and posed no threat to officers. The family attorneys have filed a wrongful death and civil rights violation claim against the city of Fullerton. They hope to take further action against the department and are demanding transparency about the events, as FPD has falsely reported to news outlets that Garcia reached for a pellet gun. Specific demands include the release of the full body camera video, DNA evidence of the weapon Garcia supposedly handled, and for the state attorney general to investigate the killing.

FPD has a history of killing unarmed people, including 50-year-old Alejandro Campos Rios in March of 2024. Again, the department was called to de-escalate a situation, and officers in body cam footage of the incident can be heard admitting that Rios was in a mental health crisis at the time. Instead of calling Orange County’s Mobile Crisis Assessment Team, the officers tased Rios and shot him multiple times directly with less-lethal rounds, ignoring department policy, killing him despite supposedly attempting to help.

Yvonne De La Torre, Rios’ partner, was also present at the rally and gave a speech in front of the department building, stating that the police “are trained to kill. They are not trained to help or assist – they are all murderers.”

Gabriela Ordoñez-Campos and her family are demanding justice for Pedro. They are demanding that the officers be held responsible, and they want people to know the truth about what happened to their son.

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