Lilly Garcia Road Rage Killing Suspect Admits Slaying 4-Year-Old, Cops Say — Shooting Shocked Nation

The road rage killing of 4-year-old “angel” Lilly Garcia horrified the whole country earlier this week. A suspect has now confessed to the senseless slaying, police said late Wednesday night, following the arrest of 32-year-old Tony Torrez after initially detaining the man on Wednesday afternoon as a “person of interest” in the shocking murder.

Lilly’s full name was Illiana Rose Rael Garcia, and her family appeared on Albuquerque television after the arrest to thank police and the FBI, who were also involved in the investigation that led to the arrest of Torrez, and to pay tribute to their fallen little girl.

“My Illiana Rose had this personality that would just be over and above her age, and this smile and these beautiful big brown eyes and would just light up a room,” her tearful mother, Veronica Garcia, told KOAT-TV.

Earlier Inquisitr coverage of the road rage killing in New Mexico can be accessed at this link and at this link.

According to the police account of the sickening incident, Alan Garcia was driving his family’s red Dodge pickup truck westbound on the eight-lane Interstate 40 in Albuquerque — after he and his wife Veronica picked up their children, Lilly and her 7-year-old brother, from school — at about 3:45 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon.

As Garcia was about to exit the busy freeway, police say, a red Toyota Camry with tinted windows and a rear “spoiler” cut across lanes and forced Garcia to swerve out of his lane.

Earlier witness accounts said that the two vehicles took turns cutting each other off.

Police say that Garcia and the other driver yelled angrily at each other — until the other driver pulled out a gun and started shooting. One of the bullets struck little Lilly Garcia in the head.

That other driver, police now say, was Tony Torrez.

“He confessed to the murder of little Lilly Garcia,” Albuquerque Police Chief Gorden Eden said Wednesday night, according to a CNN report.

As Torrez pulled away, Alan Garcia pulled over to the side of the highway and attempted to administer first aid to his stricken daughter as they waited for paramedics to show up. Lilly was soon rushed to a nearby hospital, but the little girl passed away later on Tuesday night.

On Wednesday afternoon, investigators received an anonymous tip that led them to place Torrez under surveillance. They picked him up without resistance at about 3:45 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon, initially withholding his name from the public and referring to him only as a “person of interest.” But at some point, Eden said, Torrez admitted to the shooting.

Torrez reportedly has a previous arrest record but has never been convicted of a crime other than a speeding ticket. He has either been found not guilty in previous cases or had charges dismissed, according to a KOB-TV report.

When Torrez was arrested, he was driving a green Lexus. The Camry that was used in the road rage shooting has not yet been found as of early Thursday, but police say they believe it is stored in the garage of a home in Albuquerque’s Westgate neighborhood — the same home they placed under surveillance Wednesday afternoon — and they are now in the process of obtaining search warrants for the home and, if it is present there, the car.

Torrez is being held on a $650,000 cash bond and is charged with murder, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, assault with intent to commit a violent felony, shooting at a motor vehicle, child abuse, child abuse resulting in death, and, finally, tampering with evidence.

The Garcia family has created a memorial GoFundMe page in the name of Lilly Garcia, but incredibly, false GoFundMe pages in the name of the little road rage killing victim have also been reported. The genuine GoFundMe page can be accessed at this link.