The family had just sat down to lunch when the gunman opened fire. One round missed Maximo, striking the post behind him before hitting Danica.
The motorcycle had stopped on the grass. The gunman jumped off, slipped the barrel between the slats and fired into the house.
Danica had just finished showering at the rear of the house, behind a tarpaulin wall, when she was shot.
According to Danica's grandmother, Gemma, Danica's siblings live in fear and get anxious whenever they hear a motorcycle engine.
Danica had been her grandfather's little caretaker, often massaging his legs after his long shifts as a tricycle driver.
With Maximo in hiding, Gemma is the sole provider for the family of six.
Her main source of income is the small eatery she runs in her home, in the same location where the shooting occurred.
Gemma supplements that income with occasional laundry work.
Gemma, her two daughters, and her three remaining grandchildren all live together in the same two-room shanty.
"They said [Maximo] was a drug dealer. Would a drug dealer live like this?"
Their home is a constant reminder of the absence of both Danica and Maximo, but Gemma has no choice but to stay.
"I want to leave," Gemma states, "I want us all to leave. But we can't afford it."
Danica
Danica Mae Garcia was five years old when the motorcycle pulled up to her house and a man shot at her grandfather, Maximo, who’d been reported to local authorities for dealing shabu (meth). And while had admitted to having used in the past, he had been clean for years and insisted he never sold.
None of this mattered to the gunman that fired four shots into the house. Three hit Maximo; one missed, striking Danica as she was exiting the bathroom, ready for school. As Maximo fled, his wife rushed Danica to the hospital but it was too late. She was declared dead on arrival. [more]
