A man who shot a San Diego police officer following a chase in a stolen vehicle pleaded guilty this week to charges that include attempted murder on a peace officer.
Andrew Joseph Garcia, 22, faces up to 47 years to life in state prison when he is sentenced for shooting Officer Javier Hernandez three times at a Mountain View apartment complex just before 1:30 a.m. on Dec. 12, 2022.
Hernandez testified last year at a preliminary hearing that he was struck twice in the right arm and once in his midsection, with his bulletproof vest stopping that round.
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After the shooting, Garcia ran to a vacant residence about a block away and was arrested there following a standoff that lasted around nine hours.
Prosecutors allege that throughout the night, Garcia made Instagram posts connecting him to the pursuit and shooting.
At around 1 a.m., one of the posts described being chased by police, with a message reading, "If you don't hear back from me, this might be it. I'm going to go out dumping."
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Later a post from his Instagram account read, "I wasn't supposed to go out like this...but f--- that, I'm not going to sit in a cell."
At around 2 a.m., about a half-hour after Hernandez was shot, Garcia posted, "I killed a cop," and described being surrounded by SWAT officers.
The pursuit began after Hernandez and his partner spotted an SUV that pulled out of a Logan Heights alleyway "pretty quick" and was discovered to be stolen following a license plate check, Hernandez testified.
The chase took both the SUV and the officers on and off the freeway until the SUV stopped at an apartment complex on South 45th Street.
Hernandez said he saw the SUV driver get out and run, and so he chased the man down a narrow corridor between two buildings. When he emerged from the corridor, he was struck by gunfire.
Hernandez had his gun out but did not fire, according to testimony.
Officer Ryan Welch of the San Diego Police Department testified that from his vantage point in a police helicopter, he could see the SUV driver run down the apartment complex corridor, then take a "shooting stance" before the officer appeared.
The shooter then opened fire on Hernandez, with bullets striking the officer and entering a nearby apartment, though no one inside the unit was struck.
The shooter then ran and hopped a fence, dropping his gun, which turned out to be an unserialized "ghost gun."
Garcia then holed up in a building on South 44th Street, SDPD Lt. Steve Shebloski said in 2022. Officers surrounded the residence and called in a SWAT team.
In the late morning, officers conducting surveillance on the townhouse saw that the suspect was lying on the floor inside it, Shebloski said. Several SWAT officers went into the home with a police dog, finding the suspect unconscious, according to the lieutenant.
Deputy District Attorney Clay Biddle alleged in a court hearing in December 2022 that during the standoff, Garcia "ingested a lot of narcotics, possibly in an attempt to overdose." He was given Narcan and revived, police said.
Garcia remains in custody without bail following Monday's change of plea and is set for sentencing next month.
