Huntsville, TX: San Antonio police officer's killer to be executed tonight

HUNTSVILLE -- A San Antonio street gang member set for execution this evening told police that he knew officers often wore bulletproof vests so when one responded to a domestic violence call at his home, he shot him in the head.
Frank Garcia, 39, was sentenced to die for killing police Sgt. Hector Garza, 48.
Garcia killed his wife, Jessica, in the same outburst. She was shot three times -- one bullet to her forehead and two others lower on her face.
"I just turned and went: 'Pow, pow.' And I shot the officer," Garcia later told detectives. He said he didn't notice whether Garza had pulled a gun but "just went crazy."
Garcia's attorneys asked a San Antonio judge last week to halt his execution, contending that Garcia was mentally impaired and ineligible for the death penalty under Supreme Court rulings. The court refused the request.
Garcia, who belonged to the gang Angels of Sin, had been married about seven years and lived with his wife, their two children and his parents, court records show. He and his wife married when she was 15 and he was 21 and still in high school.
He dropped out a year later at age 22.
Their relationship was marked by domestic abuse, and testimony at his trial showed that Jessica Garcia sought help from a women's shelter at least once.
She called her stepmother on March 29, 2001, to say she was leaving and needed help with her children. Her stepmother sent her sister-in-law and her husband, John Luna, to help her.
When they arrived, Jessica Garcia was on the phone with her husband, telling him that she and the children were clearing out. Luna called police.
Garcia soon drove up, left his truck in the middle of the street, brushed aside Luna's attempt to grab him and ran to the house.
Luna flagged down Garza, who was approaching, and the sergeant went into the house, where Garcia was in a bedroom with his wife. He had a machine pistol.
"I know officers wear bulletproof vests, and when I shot, I aimed for his head, and that's where I hit him," Garcia told detectives after his arrest.
Garza, who had been on the San Antonio force for 25 years and had five children, was shot four times in all.
Evidence showed that any one of the shots would have been fatal. Then, Garcia told investigators, "My mind just went blank and I turned towards my wife and I shot her, too."
Garcia declined to speak with reporters as his execution neared.
The San Antonio Police Officers Association has chartered buses and expects at least 50 people representing the department to be outside the Huntsville prison tonight, association President Mike Helle said.