Family of man killed by Portland preschool security guard seeks answers, insists he avoided fights

Manuel Garza

arrived at the Fanno Creek Medical Clinic in Southwest

Portland

on May 8 after having injured his knee, according to his family.

He never made it inside. A

confrontation in the parking lot

ended with a security guard at The Gan, a preschool next door, shooting the 32-year-old to death. The school, in a statement, said the security guard acted in self-defense “after being threatened and assaulted.”

Nearly a month after the shooting, Garza’s family has

heard little from police

about what happened. The Gan is a Jewish preschool, and most Jewish organizations in Portland employ security guards, including armed ones, owing to

ongoing threats of antisemitic violence

.

Garza, who was married and worked in the computer industry, had hurt his knee lifting weights and mentioned wanting to visit a clinic to have it checked, said his mother, Julia Garza. Portland was mostly unfamiliar to him, she added; he had moved to the city from Wilsonville just days before the shooting and had only been in Oregon for two years.

She said her son had a habit of driving to a destination on a test run, to become comfortable with the area before he had to be there.

That’s what he was doing when he arrived at a parking lot for the Fanno Creek Medical Clinic, his family believes. Garza parked his green Hyundai SUV in the back lot, which is mostly used by the clinic’s staff. The back lot and the preschool parking lot are separated by a grassy strip with several towering trees.

Dr. Gregg Coodley, the medical director of the clinic, said Wednesday that Garza never registered as a patient and had not scheduled an appointment. He also never entered the building that day, he said.

‘What was the reason?’

Garza had been diagnosed with schizophrenia but had pursued treatment and had never threatened anyone, said his family. He tried to avoid conflict, they said.

Garza’s mother said she visited the lot after her son’s death in an effort to figure out what had happened but came away with no answers. The family wonders why a security guard for the school next door confronted Garza in the clinic’s parking lot. If the guard was concerned for some reason, they said, he should have called the police.

“That is the biggest question that all of us have, is what was the reason for going and confronting instead of calling?” said his oldest sister, Melissa Garza.

Police

have refused to say whether the guard called 911 or anyone else before shooting Garza. Portland’s 911 agency also would not comment on whether an emergency call came from the guard before the shooting. A bureau spokesperson said they needed clearance from the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office, which denied the request, citing the open investigation.

Police arrived at the clinic, at 2400 SW Vermont St., at about 11:50 a.m. on May 8. They found Manuel Garza wounded in the back parking lot. He

died two weeks later

in a hospital.

Police have declined to answer questions about the circumstances of the shooting, also citing the ongoing investigation. Authorities also have not said whether Garza was armed, but his family said he did not like guns and never carried a weapon. The preschool said the guard, whose name hasn’t been released, faced a “direct threat” from Garza.

No arrests have been made in the shooting, and police have said the security guard has cooperated with officers. Attempts to reach the guard were unsuccessful Wednesday.

On the day of the shooting, police said they had no reason to believe religious bias factored into the incident. Garza’s family also said any such speculation is wrong.

“Hearing about the school, the potential of comments about antisemitism, not knowing if he had weapons, obviously that was hard to read because we know him,” Melissa Garza, his sister, said. “And we know that’s not the case.”

Texas upbringing

Manuel Castillo Garza IV grew up in the San Antonio area with a younger brother, David, and two older sisters. As a child, he loved playing basketball and video games and riding his dirt bike, his family said.

He was always shy and quiet, but that didn’t keep him indoors, his mother said. Julia Garza has vivid memories of Manuel as a child out in the yard playing basketball with up to 20 other kids from the neighborhood. He was very active, she recalled, always riding his bicycle, skateboarding and jumping on a trampoline at home.

“So much fun this little kid was,” she said.

Manuel Castillo Garza was very adept with computers and would build them himself, according to his family.

Courtesy of Manuel Garza’s family

He was also very adept with computers, according to his family. Manuel would build computers himself, said his sister, Jessica Martinez, who described him as “a little genius.” He earned two associate degrees, in information assurance and security and computer forensics, at Northwest Vista College, a community college in San Antonio, before starting a career in computers and electronics.

“Whatever sparked his interest, he really dove into,” Melissa Garza, another sister, said.

While still living with his family in Texas, Manuel Garza began struggling with his mental health. His disorder caused him to have mood changes, and his younger brother said he sought therapy, counseling and medications and maintained a functional, normal life. His family insisted that, even when having a schizophrenic episode, he was not a confrontational person and would try to remove himself from a difficult situation.

Manuel Garza moved from Texas to Oregon to join his wife, who had moved to the state months prior. Martinez said her brother’s most recent job was helping to mold semiconductor chips for computers and other electronics.

Garza’s wife declined interview requests from The Oregonian/OregonLive.

Martinez described her brother’s time in the hospital after the shooting as a “rollercoaster,” with cause for hope before his condition worsened. There was a great deal of organ damage, she said. She declined to say whether he revealed any details about the incident.

“He did say he did not want to go,” said Melissa Garza. “He did say that he did not want to die, so we know he was trying.”

Melissa Garza wondered how he felt in the moments before the shooting. Was he scared? Did he feel threatened?

In the clinic’s back lot, Garza’s family set up a memorial in his memory with two flower pots and a photo of him donning a San Antonio Spurs jersey, his favorite NBA team.

In the back lot of the Fanno Creek Medical Clinic, a memorial sits for Manuel Garza, who was shot in the area May 8. He died in a hospital from his injuries two weeks later.

Courtesy of Manuel Garza’s family

Ongoing investigation

The Portland Police Bureau’s

homicide unit

is investigating the shooting. A police spokesperson said Monday the bureau doesn’t have a timeline for when detectives will submit a case file to the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office to consider filing charges.

Melissa Garza said she hopes the detectives are able to offer definitive answers. “We’re trusting the investigation to do what it does,” she said.

Whatever the detectives determine, Martinez said, she wants “everybody to know he was a human being.”

“He was a brother, a son, an uncle, a nephew, a grandson, a cousin,” she said. “He was extremely loved by so many people.”

—

Zaeem Shaikh covers the Portland Police Bureau and criminal justice issues for The Oregonian/OregonLive. Reach him at 503-221-4323,


zshaikh@oregonian.com


or on X


@zaeemshake

.

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