OAKLAND — Gerardo Garcia needed mental health services desperately, his probation officer wrote in a court filing.
Garcia, 34, was on probation for a false imprisonment conviction, stemming from a 2023 arrest where he allegedly yelled, “die mother(expletive),” while stabbing a fellow BART passenger. He had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, resisted therapy while on probation, complained to relatives he was being followed by people who wanted to kill him and missed appointments with his probation officer three times, court records show.
On Dec. 30, Garcia’s probation officer moved to revoke his probation. The plan was to proceed with court-ordered “mental health treatment…including taking medication if prescribed,” steps the officer said were necessary to address his “severe mental health disorder.”
The very next day, on Dec. 31, Garcia allegedly stabbed to death a man named Carlos Huerta-Esparza during an altercation on the 1900 block of 70th Avenue in East Oakland. Police say the victim was in his 40s, but have not identified him by a precise age. Authorities haven’t released a suspected motive for the stabbing.
Garcia was identified as a suspect, and arrested on Feb. 25. He now sits in Santa Rita Jail without bail. He has been charged with murder and enhancements for alleged use of a deadly weapon and two prior false imprisonment convictions, records show.
Few details have been released about the killing of Huerta-Esparza. Police have only revealed it occurred around 7:45 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, that the victim died about 30 minutes later and that an eyewitness identified Garcia.
His prior stabbing case, from Jan. 8, 2023, appeared random and unprovoked. The victim told police he was riding on a BART train in Hayward when Garcia suddenly started to punch him, grabbed for his cellphone and screamed “die,” while slicing him twice with a razor, court records show.
Garcia was charged with attempted murder, false imprisonment and robbery, and faced a possible life sentence if convicted. Instead, he pleaded no contest to a single false imprisonment count on April 15, 2024, received a jail sentence that added up to the exact amount of time he had already served to that point, was assigned to probation for two years and ordered to stay away from the man he attacked, according to court records.
The BART stabbing was the result of Garcia having a mental health episode, where he believed the victim wanted to kill him, his probation officer wrote in court filings. Given this, Garcia’s subsequent behavior only made the officer more concerned.
As early as August, there were problems with his probation performance. His family lost track of him, calling his supervisor to report he was “missing” and would occasionally turn up, unkempt and paranoid, telling loved ones he was “living on the streets with friends because someone had been following him and trying to kill him,” court records show.
The probation officer, who noted Garcia’s admitted history of methamphetamine use, grew more concerned when Garcia either ignored or refused repeated referrals to mental health services, records show. On Oct. 3, he allegedly tried to “force” his way inside a probation office and appeared to be having a “mental episode,” the officer wrote.
Finally, probation staff got him inside and had a talk with him.
“(Garcia) stated he did not wish to speak with the therapist. The undersigned asked if the defendant had seen his doctor to get his medication,” probation unit supervisor Heather Rogers wrote in a report. “The defendant stated he
had not seen his doctor and did not get his medication. The defendant stated he was still residing on the streets with friends.”
A few moments later, he made a chilling comment, the records say.
“The defendant stated he needed donations because someone was trying to kill him but later stated he had killed the individuals who were trying to kill him,” Rogers wrote.
Garcia is set to be arraigned in the murder case on Monday.