Carl Bryant puts his arm around Caitlyn Moffett as they view a makeshift memorial to Fairfield city councilman Matt Garcia Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2008, outside City Hall in Fairfield, Calif. The family of the 22-year-old Garcia plans to allow doctors to take him off life support Wednesday after Garcia was declared brain dead following Monday night's incident where several shots were fired at Garcia's head as he was speaking with a friend outside her house.
The family of a 22-year-old Fairfield councilman said their final goodbyes Wednesday as his body was turned over to organ donor teams.
Matt Garcia was hospitalized at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek after he was shot in the head Monday. He was declared brain dead and his family planned to take him off life support.
Ron Marlette, a spokesman for the family, said Garcia wanted to donate his organs.
Garcia had just stepped out of his car outside a friend's home about 8:30 p.m. Monday when a gunman got out of a mid-'90s, American model sedan and fired several shots from a distance of about 50 yards, according to police. A single bullet from a small caliber handgun or rifle struck Garcia in the back of the head, police said. A woman with whom he was talking was uninjured.
The gunman - described as a man in his late teens or early 20s - then got back into the car and fled.
Police said Wednesday that they have recovered at least eight small caliber bullet casings at the scene that have been sent off to the Department of Justice for analysis.
But investigators still do not have a motive in the shooting.
Meanwhile, Garcia's friends and colleagues are remembering him as an ambitious man who cared deeply about Fairfield.
Garcia was just 21-years-old when he was sworn in last fall as a councilman, making him one of the youngest elected officials in California.
He vowed to focus on crime prevention, economic development, community growth and keeping Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, according to his campaign Web site.
Garcia said his father had spent time in prison, used drugs and been involved with gangs, and he credited his grandmother and other family members from keeping him from a similar fate.
A prayer service was scheduled for Garcia Thursday night at Parkway Community Church in Fairfield.
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