On a pleasant night around 8pm in the late spring of 2010, Angel Del Villar allegedly followed Enrique Garcia, Jr., a man he had never met before, from a mall in suburban Modesto, California to Garcia’s home a few miles away. As Garcia was about to get out of his car, Del Villar is alleged to have walked up to it before he could get the car door open and shot him at point blank range.
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Last week, Modesto police Detective Ra Pouv gave testimony in a preliminary hearing for Del Villar who is facing charges of first degree intentional homicide in the shooting death of Garcia. The hearing will determine if there is enough evidence for Del Villar to stand trial.
According to the detective’s testimony and the official police report, Garcia was shot near an intersection in western Modesto. He was then found in his car just a few blocks from where the shooting happened. He had suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was reported dead at the crash site. When Detective Pouv and other investigators reviewed footage from the security cameras of a business park nearby they saw a white Ford compact car that they believed was one of the vehicles involved in the shooting.
Pouv testified that the investigative team found an abandoned white Ford Focus that matched the vehicle in the video and which was registered to Del Villar. He stated that he had questioned a “confidential witness” who was in the back seat of the Focus while Del Villar was in the front passenger seat on the night that they followed the victim from the mall. The witness told him that Garcia was part of a street gang that is rival to Del Villar’s and that is why he wanted to kill him.
Detective Pouv’s testimony could help put Del Villar, if he is found guilty, in prison for as long as 80 years to life.