Lakewood officer’s killing draws attention to suspects’ strangulation histories

The fatal shootout involving Lakewood police Agent Nicholas Graham and Gabriel Garcia on Thursday has renewed attention to an attack Garcia committed years earlier. In August 2017, Garcia strangled an Adams County sheriff’s deputy during a struggle. Experts told The Denver Post that such conduct can signal a serious threat to officers and should carry more weight in arrest planning, bond decisions and sentencing.

Graham and Garcia died in Thursday’s gunfight, which also left three other Lakewood officers shot and a bystander wounded. Officers approached Garcia around 6:30 p.m. as he boarded a Regional Transportation District bus at West Colfax Avenue and Wadsworth Boulevard. They believed he matched the description of a suspect in a hit-and-run crash earlier that day. Police spokesman John Romero did not answer questions Monday about whether officers knew Garcia’s identity or criminal history.

The 2017 confrontation began when a deputy investigating reported trespassing near Westminster stopped Garcia and his girlfriend. Garcia, who had outstanding arrest warrants, fled and fought when the deputy caught him, according to an affidavit. He punched and bit the deputy, pressed a knee into his back, squeezed his neck until he could not breathe and reached for his holstered weapon. Garcia’s girlfriend later told investigators he had also strangled her.

Bill Smock, a police surgeon in Jeffersontown, Kentucky, and strangulation expert, said officers can encounter someone with a strangulation history during many kinds of calls. Gerry Fineman, a former California prosecutor who chairs a committee for the Training Institute on Strangulation Prevention, said strangulation occurs most frequently in domestic violence situations. Both urged better tracking so officers checking warrants or stopping vehicles could receive warnings about previous incidents.

Fineman examined 10 officer killings in Riverside County, California, from 1993 through 2013 and found prior strangulation accusations against half the suspects. Separately, an Idaho police department’s review of 10 nonfatal police shootings found strangulation histories among 30% of suspects and domestic violence histories among 80%. A 2022 Police Chief Magazine report cited a broader review of 44 police killings in which 75% of suspects had domestic violence histories.

Denver introduced a citywide approach this year to help first responders recognize the dangers of strangulation in domestic violence cases. Women who have been strangled are 7.5 times more likely to be killed by their partners than domestic violence victims who have not been strangled.

Former police officer and use of force expert James Allbee said following Garcia onto the bus placed officers in a confined area with limited protection from gunfire, passengers nearby and potential concerns about friendly fire. He said officers might not have known Garcia was armed. Had they anticipated greater danger, he said, they could have followed the bus until Garcia exited or used shields and additional protection.

Garcia pleaded guilty to assaulting the deputy and received a 10-year prison sentence in 2019. An attempted murder charge and related counts were dismissed under the plea agreement. Records show he was free by July 2025. After an October 2025 trespassing arrest, he received a one-year sentence in April, with credit for about five months already served. He served another five months before being paroled Sept. 23, with sentence reductions for earned time.

On Sept. 28, Broomfield officers arrested Garcia on a parole warrant after stopping a truck involved in a hit-and-run crash in which he was a passenger. He remained detained until Oct. 20, when parole officials ordered his release. Whether he attended a required parole appointment the following day remains unclear. Corrections spokeswoman Alondra Gonzalez-Garcia confirmed he was under parole supervision during Thursday’s shooting and said the department was reviewing his supervision.