Saline fatal shooting: Barry Garza Michigan man shoots dead his ex, Amber Jo Thomas a week after the woman filing for an order of protection.
‘I’m scared. He has stated he was going to kill me several times.’ A Michigan man fatally shot his ex at her place of work, a week after the woman filing for an order of protection against her former love interest.
Barry Garza, 58, is accused of killing Amber Jo Thomas, 40, by shooting her in the neck as she walked towards her car in the parking lot of Linden Square Assisted Living Center in Saline, Michigan, around 11.30am Thursday.
Thomas reportedly had a personal protection order against Garza, saying he had stated his intent to kill her ‘several times’ and she was ‘scared’ for her safety. It was granted on July 28 but had not yet been served.
Garza also allegedly shot and injured a 67-year-old male acquaintance of Thomas’ who had been walking beside her outside the assisted living care residence, before fleeing in a tan-colored Ford Focus that he used to ‘purposefully’ smash into another vehicle.
‘Dearly loved’ senior care worker and mom-to-one Thomas, from Adrian, Lenawee County, died of her injuries at the University of Michigan Hospital, while her acquaintance survived.
During a court hearing on Saturday, Garza pleaded not guilty to one count of open murder, one count of assault with intent to murder and one count of felony firearm.
Prosecutor Jessica Blanch described the alleged attack outside the care home where Thomas worked on 650 Woodland Drive.
‘He showed up to her work, shot her in the neck, and then shot a male victim who was near her,’ Blanch told the court.
‘He got in his car and fled from the scene and police. He purposefully crashed his car into another vehicle, which ended the flee.
‘He made terrible statements on the scene, which showed his intent, like ‘I’m not sorry I killed that f***ing b****”.
Blanch called Garza ‘an absolute threat to this community’ and a ‘flight risk’ before he was denied bond.
Magistrate Tamara Garwood described the case as ‘devastating’, highlighting how the 67-year-old man Garza allegedly shot could also have died – along with others involved in the car crash he incited.
Saline Police Department officials said officers were called to Linden Square Assisted Living Center parking lot around 11.35am, where they found Thomas and her friend with gunshot wounds.
By the time they arrived, Garza had allegedly fled in his Ford.
Victim remembered
Multiple police departments pursued him, and a Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Deputy found his vehicle crashed into another along Willis Road.
Police said Garza did not comply with their demands and was tasered, while the driver of the second vehicle was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
‘Our condolences go out to the family and friends of all victims involved in this unnecessary tragedy, Saline police said.
‘Amber Jo Thomas, you will be remembered and we will do everything in our power to get justice for you and your family.’
Thomas been granted a PPO against Garza just a week before she died, according to The Detroit News.
‘He has physically harmed me so many times already,’ she wrote in her PPO application.
‘I’m scared. He has stated he was going to kill me several times.’
Garza is set to next appear in court for a probable cause conference at 9am on August 17.
Friends paid tribute to Thomas – who leaves behind her parents, three brothers, and a son – saying in her obituary that she loved ‘gardening, planting flowers and her dogs (fur babies)’.
‘Amber also enjoyed being on the lake, going camping and sitting around a bonfire with her family & friends,’ the J. Gilbert Purse Funeral Home obituary says.
‘She was currently working at Linden Square Assisted Living in Saline, MI and was dearly loved by all the residents.’
