Man stabbed in Gwinnett child killings had told police of threat

By Ty Tagami

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Elvis Garcia felt certain he knew who had thrust the knife into his chest.

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John Spink jspink@ajc.com Antonio Cardenas-Rico, arrested in the stabbing deaths of 1- and 3-year-old boys and assaults on two other family members, arrives Thursday for a hearing at in Gwinnett Magistrate Court.

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Hyosub Shin, hshin@ajc.com Gwinnett County Police investigate the multiple homicide scene in the Huntington Falls subdivision near Lawrenceville on Feb. 9, 2011.

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Hyosub Shin, hshin@ajc.com Gwinnett County Police Cpl. Jake Smith speaks to members of press about the incident where at least two kids were killed inside their house near Lawrenceville.

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The 23-year-old Lawrenceville-area man had told police a week earlier about a threat on his life.

The man who was stabbed multiple times Wednesday while two boys he said were his sons were killed had gone to  Gwinnett County police Feb. 2 to file complaints.

He told them that his ex-girlfriend's current boyfriend had called him because of a dispute between Garcia and the woman, according to incident reports obtained by the AJC Friday. "I will kill you," the man told Garcia, according to one of the reports.

Garcia and his former girlfriend were fighting over the three children they'd had together, according to the reports, obtained Friday by the AJC. He said the boys were with him but that he had not legally established paternity, and he said he would not give his sons to their mother "because of concerns of drug activity" with her current boyfriend, identified in the reports as Patrick Cardenas.

Seven days later, at around 6:30 p.m., police responded to a 911 call at 1110 Bridle Path Drive, a house in the Huntington Falls subdivision. Officers found two dead boys, ages 1 and 3, in the finished basement. They'd been stabbed to death. Another 3-year-old boy, also stabbed, was in critical condition.

Police later charged Antonio Cardenas-Rico, 27, with killing Bradley Garcia, 3, and Edward Garcia, 1.

Cardenas-Rico was being held Friday in the Gwinnett County Detention Center on murder charges. He also was being held for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to jail records.

Gwinnett police have not confirmed whether Cardenas-Rico is the same person whom Garcia accused of threatening him.

A week earlier, when Garcia had gone to police to report the threat, he told them he had no witnesses or recordings of the incident -- essential evidence for a terroristic threatening charge. The reporting officer told Garcia that he should stay somewhere other than his home -- at a place where Cardenas could not find him.

Garcia was staying with his sister when he spoke with police. By the time of the attack though, he had moved back home with the boys.