Off-Duty MTA Police Officer Shot to Death

An off-duty sergeant with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority was killed early Wednesday in an apparent drive-by shooting in Echo Park, police said.

Officials say Sgt. Jose Garcia is the first Los Angeles transit police officer to be shot to death.

Garcia, 32, graduated this summer from Cal State L.A. with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, his wife said.

“We were just closing escrow on our first house today,” Noritza Garcia said in a phone interview. “We were getting our keys for our new house on Friday. He was really excited.”

She recalled the last time she spoke with her husband of nearly three years. She called him after dinner with some friends as they were getting ready to go to a Gloria Estefan concert. “His last words were, ‘I love you. You take care.’ It was kind of like his going away. I’ll always remember them.”

She said Garcia, who normally worked the 9 p.m to 7 a.m. shift, liked to go out with friends on his night off.

Police said Garcia was fatally wounded while talking with a male acquaintance behind a commercial building in the 1600 block of Sunset Boulevard. About 3:15 a.m., a man believed to be in his 20s drove up in a red pickup and opened fire on the two men.

Garcia was transported to a hospital where he died. The other man, who was not identified, was not injured, police said.

Police say there are no suspects and no motive for the shooting. Cmdr. Tim McBride said detectives do not believe the men provoked the gunman.

Garcia was a seven-year veteran of the transit police. He started out in 1986 as a bus driver with the Southern California Rapid Transit District, now known as the MTA, and transferred to the Transit Police Department as an officer in 1989.

News of Garcia’s death stunned fellow transit officers. “It’s devastating. Officers at this moment are really in a state of shock. They are asking, ‘Why did it happen to Joe?’ ” said Capt. Sam Dacus.

In 1991, Garcia was commended for resolving a threatening situation aboard a bus in which a man grabbed a 5-year-old boy and held a 10-inch knife to his throat. He is survived by his wife, an 11-month-old son, Christian, two sons by a previous marriage, Luis, 11, and Robert, 7, and Noritza Garcia’s son, Anthony, 6.

A trust fund has been set up for Garcia’s family. Contributions should be sent to: Sgt. Jose Garcia Fund, c/o Transit Police Department, 1 Gateway Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90053.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call the LAPD at (213) 485-2531.