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Sixteen-year-old Gabriel Garcia got off work one August evening in 2021 and went to a party in Southeast sa国际传媒官网网页入口. Just minutes after he arrived, multiple gunmen fired hundreds of gunshots into the apartment, fatally shooting the teenager.

Prosecutors told jurors Wednesday that Elton Gastelum, 24, was one of six men who opened fire on 20 partygoers in the apartment at 500 Tennessee SE. Police found 192 shell casings in the parking lot.

Jurors began deliberations Wednesday afternoon on the third day of Gastelum's trial in 2nd Judicial District Court before Judge Cindy Leos. Gastelum faces charges of first-degree murder, aggravated battery and two counts each of shooting at an occupied dwelling and conspiracy in the attack.

Garcia was killed by a single gunshot to the back of his head and died at the scene.

The gunfire also injured Isaac Gonzales, who was struck in the arm and chest before he fled the apartment. The gunfire from multiple firearms continued for eight minutes, penetrating both outer and inner walls of the apartment. Shell casings collected at the scene showed four different firearms were used in the attack.

"As people were trying to leave and trying to find some safe place, this shooting is still going on," Assistant District Attorney Emilie Edmonds said in closing statements on Wednesday. "It's surprising that Gabriel and Isaac were the only ones shot that day."

Gastelum's attorney, Richard Pugh, told jurors Wednesday that prosecutors offered no evidence or testimony showing that his client was at the scene the night of the shootings.

"They have to have actual proof, evidence," Pugh said. "Don't fall for it when they're trying to do this flawed logic trickery on you."

Pugh also took issue with a photo offered as evidence by the prosecution that showed Gastelum holding an AR-style rifle that prosecutors allege he used to fire on the apartment. The photo, taken at a park sometime after the shootings, showed Gastelum and other young men holding firearms, including co-defendants who have pleaded guilty to their roles in the shooting.

"The idea that the photo creates a group, and the only person in the group has a certain gun, therefore that somehow translates to the shooting, is more flawed logic," Pugh told jurors. Pugh argued that the photo was taken as long as 23 hours after the shootings and included people who have not been criminally charged in the attack.

Prosecutors acknowledged that some of the evidence they offered against Gastelum is circumstantial.

"You can use circumstantial evidence," Deputy District Attorney Collin Brennan told jurors. "Circumstantial evidence still can convict someone."

sa国际传媒官网网页入口 police responded to 500 Tennessee SE shortly after midnight on Aug. 28, 2021. When they arrived, they found Garcia dead inside an apartment where a party took place earlier that night, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court.

Gastelum was one of six men charged and the first to face trial in Garcia's killing. Two of his co-defendants have entered pleas of guilty or no contest, including Santos Veronica and Francisco Rodriguez, both 23. Lawrence Ramirez-Casiquito, 22, pleaded no contest to two counts of conspiracy but has since filed a motion to rescind his plea.

Dominic Baca, 23, is charged with first-degree murder and other charges and is scheduled for trial in June. A sixth co-defendant, Johnny Lopez, 22, was charged with an open count of murder in 2024 but no records appear for him in district court.

Defense and prosecution attorneys sparred over the value of testimony offered this week by four of Gastelum's co-defendants. Each of the four co-defendants were noncommittal about whether Gastelum participated in the shootings.

"None of the co-defendants denied that the defendant was present during the homicide," Edmonds told jurors. Pugh countered that prosecutors were asking the jury to accept "flawed logic."

"The absence of a fact does not prove a fact," Pugh said.