The 15-year-old accused of shooting and stabbing her mother and mother's boyfriend to death in their Brooklyn NYCHA apartment with an accomplice was formally charged yesterday, and according to reports, she kept the killings secret for about a week, during which she partied in Times Square on New Year's Eve. Garcia reportedly initially told investigators that Anderson Nuñez, her mother's boyfriend, had sexually abused her and that her mother turned a blind eye, but subsequently changed her story, saying her mother, Rosa Sanchez, had beaten her as Nuñez did nothing.
"We don’t think at all this was an act of self-defense," NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce told reporters. "What she said was basically the mother was physically abusive to her in the past . . . She went and got a gun."
The New York Post reports that Garcia convinced a 15-year-old friend she had been raped and got him to leave his upstate boarding school and join her, bringing along a gun. The tabloid continued:
After confronting her mother later that day and allegedly pumping a bullet into her ear, Destiny set her sights on Nuñez — shooting him once as he tried to stop her, sources said. But he was only wounded and continued toward her, the sources said.
Her pal grabbed the gun and fired — striking the boyfriend once in the back, according to cops. Destiny then finished the job by stabbing him “over 30 times” said prosecutor Tziyonah Langsam at Destiny’s arraignment in Brooklyn Criminal Court on Monday night. She also allegedly stabbed her mom.
The friend, who has not yet been apprehended, allegedly also stabbed both victims, and the two fled in a car. According to multiple accounts, Garcia partied in Times Square on New Year’s Eve days later. She also went shopping, according to the News, and stayed with her dad, telling him she'd gotten into a fight with her mom, according to DNAinfo.
The Daily News reports that Garcia confessed to Sanchez's cousin Jason Valentin. He then called police, got her to state her role in the deaths with the cops on speakerphone, and drove her to a local station house.
"It was hard for me, but at the end of the day, whether family or not, a crime was committed," he said. “Whoever is responsible, even if it’s her, they have to pay for what they did.
Valentin told the News that he didn't believe her account of abuse, and that "It sounds like someone coached her to say that."
Garcia faces four counts of second-degree murder and two weapons possession charges. She is being tried as an adult and faces life imprisonment if convicted of any of the murder charges. A Brooklyn DA's Office spokesman said he did not have information about who her lawyer is, but that she's expected to have a new one appointed during a court appearance tomorrow.
