SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – At 75-years-old, Joe Garcia feared he had reached the end of his life, and he believed it would come at the hands of someone who he tried to help.
“She told me, 'I'm gonna kill you. I'm gonna kill you.' And one time, she pointed the gun at me,” he said, gesturing with his hands.
Just talking about the ordeal that he endured two months ago still has him tearing up now.
However, he said he feels some relief knowing that San Antonio police have arrested his former co-worker and roommate, Elisha Jimenez.
Garcia said he opened his Southwest Side home to the 39-year-old woman a few months ago when she came to him telling him that she was homeless and needed a place to stay.
He said he took Jimenez in and put her up in a separate bedroom.
However, Garcia said Jimenez suddenly paid him back Jan. 7 in a very violent way.
“I said, 'Why are you doing this to me? Why are you doing this to me? I'm a nice man,’” he said.
An arrest warrant affidavit spells out the entire incident, saying that Garcia had left his Whitman Street home after an argument with Jimenez.
Garcia told police as he walked along the 6400 block of South Zarzamora, Jimenez suddenly jumped the sidewalk in her truck and hit him from behind.
The affidavit said Jimenez then picked up Garcia and drove him home, where she pointed a gun at him, tied him to a chair and beat him.
“She had a big beer can and she started hitting me all over here and all that,” he said, pointing to his head and arms.
Garcia showed off the bruises that are still visible two months after the attack.
The emotional scars, though, may never heal.
“She hurt me. She hurt me real bad,” Garcia said. “I'm lucky I'm alive, that I survived.”
While the arrest will make him rest a bit easier now, Garcia said he still wants to see Jimenez go to prison for a long time.
She was booked into the Bexar County Jail on Sunday on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, injury to the elderly and unlawful restraint.