PASCO — When Alfredo Garcia wasn’t toiling in the fields, he spent hours building his American dream.
The husband and father who’d emigrated from Mexico was proud to give his growing family a four-bedroom home in an east Pasco neighborhood with help from Habitat for Humanity.
Then, in December 2008, he and his wife were gunned down in their living room. He died, while Maria Ramirez de Garcia was left paralyzed from the waist down and with limited vision in her right eye. They’d been homeowners less than a year.
While some might have deserted the scene of that terrible night, the family has embraced the Manzanita Lane home where Garcia built their future.
“There are no difficult memories. We don’t see it as a place where something happened,” said eldest daughter Jesica Garcia Ramirez, 20. “We see it as a place that was built by our dad. It’s just a part of us.”
Since Alfredo Garcia’s death 14 months ago, his elder daughters have taken on greater roles at home.
Jesica, who was a freshman at Washington State University in Pullman, had to scale back her dreams. She moved home to care for her mother and help raise her three younger sisters.
All while continuing to take classes at WSU Tri-Cities and online.
“Pretty much I have to be with my family and take care of the things that my mom and dad had to take care of,” Jesica said. “At times it becomes stressful with school work and family work, and sometimes I’m working 18 hours a day.”
Erika, 16, and Maricela, 15, also share in the chores, particularly baby-sitting 2-year-old sister Kimberly on weekends.
And Maria hasn’t lost her enjoyment for working around the family’s home, tidying up her daughters’ bedrooms and cleaning house. Relatives and neighbors help where they can.
As the Garcias remake their lives, they try not to focus much energy on the men accused in the shootings, Ramon Garcia-Morales and Jose Garcia-Morales. They are apprehensive about testifying against the brothers, but also hope for justice.
Pleading for life
The Garcias moved to Pasco about eight years ago. As the parents worked in the fields, their daughters assimilated into American schools.
Home was a cramped two-bedroom apartment before Garcia became involved with Habitat for Humanity. He volunteered to work on the neighborhood’s first house even before he’d been approved for a Habitat home.
They had much to celebrate in early 2008: They moved into their home in March and Jesica graduated from Pasco High in June, the first in her family with a high school diploma.
Maria completed her GED that summer, and she and her husband were taking night classes at Columbia Basin College to learn English. Jesica entered WSU in August with help from scholarships and financial aid.
Then came Dec. 10, 2008.
Court documents say Garcia, 42, “had been responsible for delegating work opportunities to workers for an (onion) producer,” and the Garcia-Morales brothers believed he’d deprived them of a job. They blamed him for financial problems Ramon Garcia-Morales had experienced.
Documents say Ramon Garcia-Morales told his siblings and wife he planned to confront Garcia “to collect money from him that he had missed out on. … He felt entitled to the money and stated that if Alfredo refused to give him money, he would kill him.”
Ramon and Jose were both allegedly carrying guns when they went to the Garcia home. At some point, documents allege, Ramon pulled out his 9mm and fired until it was empty, then grabbed Jose’s .45-caliber pistol and continued shooting.
Three daughters were home. They pleaded for their lives and were saved when the suspects fled, fearing police were coming.
Court papers say the brothers threw the guns into a field along Highway 12 near Walla Walla. They were arrested the next day in Idaho.
Jose, 26, of Pasco, and Ramon, 29, of Kennewick, are charged in Franklin County Superior Court with first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder. Their cases have been on hold over defense concerns that the brothers are not mentally competent to stand trial.
Struggling to adapt
Maria, then 38, was shot once each in her left shoulder, right cheekbone, left leg and back. One bullet went through her spine and left lung. A broken rib punctured her right lung.
She spent three months in Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center recovering from her injuries and getting rehabilitation.
Once back in Pasco, Maria had in-home care to relearn basic tasks.
“She’s very limited” in what she can do, Jesica said of her mother. “Not having that mobility and not being able to take care of her kids, that restriction has changed her.”
Jesica has worked hard to stay in school at the WSU Tri-Cities campus while managing the household, but worries she won’t be able to afford classes next fall after her aid runs out.
Erika and Maricela both struggle sometimes to concentrate in school, always thinking about the family.
But their home is brightened by 2-year-old Kimberly.
The toddler talks nonstop and keeps everyone entertained as she reads and plays with dolls.
“She’s really loved,” said Maricela.
Erika added, “She’s the reason the house is happy.”
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