Oracio Garcia was 29 years old when he died on Sunday, October 8, 2017, in Paramount. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma in the 16600 block of Paramount Boulevard. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department case.
Garcia, a Paramount resident, and a friend were at Buchones Bar at Paramount Boulevard and 70th Street around 1:30 a.m. when, according to sheriff's Lt. Joe Mendoza, they got into an argument with four other men. "The argument turned physical and spilled outside," the Los Angeles Times reported, citing Mendoza. During the fight, one of the men got into his car and drove the wrong way on Paramount Boulevard, heading north in the southbound lane. The car struck Garcia, and afterward another of the assailants got into the vehicle. The car, a dark sedan, was last seen heading north on Paramount. The two men in the car were described only as Latinos in their 20s.
Garcia was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 2:16 a.m., according to coroner's records. City News Service, in a report carried by the Daily Breeze and the Orange County Register, said Garcia had argued with two men inside the bar before the fight moved outside, and that "One suspect got into his car and ran over Garcia, and he and the other man fled in the dark-colored sedan." The early accounts differ on how many men were in the argument, but both describe the driver and a second man escaping together. "No arrests were reported."
His sister, Maria Chairez, started a fundraiser for his funeral. "My brother Oracio was intentionally hit by a car and killed on the night of 10/08/2017," she wrote. "There were two men in the car who also injured a cousin and a friend then fled the scene." She described him as "a great brother, son and friend" and wrote that "At 29 he was a very hard worker on a mission to start a busines. " His death, she wrote, "was not expected and unfortunately our family was not ready for something like this." The campaign raised more than $7,000 from 82 donors, and she wrote that the donations paid for his services.
Paramount is a small, densely populated city in southeast Los Angeles County, bordered by Long Beach, Compton and Bellflower. It contracts with the Sheriff's Department for police services. Paramount Boulevard is its main north-south commercial street, lined with restaurants, shops and bars that stay busy late into the night on weekends.
Hundreds of people are killed in Los Angeles County every year, and a large share of those killings end without an arrest.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Oracio Garcia could be found in news archives or public records. More than eight years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was at or near the bar on Paramount Boulevard in the early morning of October 8, 2017, or who knows who was driving a dark sedan north in the southbound lanes that night, may hold the information detectives need. Sheriff's homicide detectives asked anyone with information to call them at 323-890-5500. Even a small detail, such as a name overheard, a vehicle seen nearby or a conversation remembered, can help detectives move a case forward. Anyone with information can contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
