Murdered Bronx gang member Abdul Garcia Jr. was on streets since 12, tried to go legit, his companion insists

Abdul “Showtime” Garcia, Jr., was found June 4 at Hoe and Aldus Aves. with five bullets in him. Cops said he was a Bloods gang member. A red bandanna adorned the sidewalk memorial to him. Police say Garcia had a long criminal record, was a suspect in a recent shooting that paralyzed a man, and died with a gun in his back pocket. But his common-law wife painted a different portrait. The softspoken, petite 23-year-old woman said he was a doting father to their 4-year-old son and to her 6-year-old boy. Garcia’s companion, who asked that her name be withheld, said she met him in 2006. She said that he left his parents’ home after an arrest, possibly for fighting, that sent him to a youth detention center for as long as three years. When he was released he roamed from house to house, then moved into the shelter where she was staying. “He started living there with me and my mom, and he started taking care of my son that was a month and a half, that wasn't even his,” she said. He was known as Showtime because he was so entertaining. Asked about his gang involvement, she said, “I don’t want to speak about it. But he was a good person...” She said he was always looking for legitimate work. He swept subway station floors, worked in construction, moved stock at the area’s produce markets, and handed out promotional flyers for a dental clinic. But back pain from scoliosis caused him to quit or lose jobs. He got his GED and recently took a test to enroll at Boricua College, she said. Garcia had 33 arrests on his record and 15 convictions, including five for felonies. His companion said that most of those were related to his marijuana use. “He liked to smoke,” she said. “So what? It’s not killing anybody.” Police said Garcia was arrested last year on the upper East side, in possession of a loaded gun and a skimask. He was charged in the May 11 double-shooting at 1000 Hoe Ave., just yards from where he died. Garcia’s companion says police released him because a video showed a larger man doing the shooting. Police said they had a witness who recanted. “To me, it’s just a lie,” the wife said. She says Garcia was in Monticello when the May 11 shooting took place. On June 4, Garcia went out to get soda and juice. “Ten minutes later somebody knocked on the door crying and they said, ‘Show is on the floor.’” She ran out to find him face down in the street under a blanket. “I started yelling at everybody, asking them what happened, what happened, what happened, and nobody would say nothing,” she said. “Everybody was just looking at me, like sad and everything.” She said Garcia wanted to go somewhere quiet, like NewJersey. “He just didn’t want to be around all of this no more. He just wanted to be a family.”