Modesto teen was asleep in her bed when she was shot. Suspect arrested
A 22-year-old man has been arrested for the west Modesto shooting of a 15-year-old girl while she was asleep in her bedroom over the weekend.
Giovanni Omar Gutierrez-Garcia turned himself in to officers at the Modesto Police Department on Monday afternoon and has been charged in the July 2 shooting incident. Police were called for reports of a shooting around 1 a.m. last Saturday to the 900 block of Inez Drive, south of California Avenue.
Responding officers found a 15-year-old girl suffering from a gunshot wound, police said. According to a statement from the department released Wednesday, the girl had been asleep in her bed when a bullet pierced the wall of her bedroom and hit her in the back. She was transported to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
According to police, Gutierrez-Garcia left the area after the shooting. But he subsequently turned himself in four days later. Police said detectives from the Violent Crimes Unit arrested Gutierrez-Garcia afterward.
During the investigation, police said they determined that Gutierrez-Garcia allegedly had been handling a gun in his garage, which is north of the victim’s home. The gun then discharged, and the bullet traveled through the victim’s bedroom wall, striking her as she slept.
Gutierrez-Garcia has been booked into the Stanislaus County Jail on charges of possession of an assault weapon, negligent discharge of a firearm and inflicting great bodily injury in the commission of a felony. He is listed as in custody and being held on $125,000 bail.
This story was originally published July 6, 2022 at 12:48 PM.
