ALBUQUERQUE — A man confessed to fatally shooting a 4-year-old girl while arguing with her father as the two men drove down a freeway in separate vehicles, police said, without offering more details on what led to the apparent road-rage slaying.
Tony Torrez, 32, was arrested Wednesday and admitted shooting Lilly Garcia while she was riding in the back seat of her father’s pickup truck with her 7-year-old brother, police said. He has been charged with murder, assault, child abuse and other crimes.
The children’s father had picked them up from school Tuesday when someone in another vehicle opened fire on the family as they traveled on Interstate 40, Albuquerque’s main east-west freeway.
The father told authorities that he was trying to exit the freeway when a car forced him out of his lane, a police statement said.
“The two drivers exchanged words when Torrez pulled out a gun and shot at the red truck driven by Lilly’s father,” the statement continued. “Lilly was hit at least once in the head.”
