Amy Lisenbe/Nevada Appeal Francisco Monroy, 15, left, and Adrian Garcia, 14, right, enter the courtroom Monday afternoon for a preliminary hearing. Both are charged with suspicion of attempted murder, battery with a deadly weapon and burglary with a deadly weapon following a stabbing Dec. 23. Bail for each was set at $250,000.
A preliminary hearing for two boys charged in the stabbing of a sleeping rival will continue Friday.
The victim took the stand Monday to tell the judge what happened Dec. 23 when he awoke to intruders stabbing him.
"I got one to the cheek, then I got a whole bunch more," said the 16-year-old, whose name is being withheld to protect his identity. "So I got up and started fighting back and they ran out the door."
Adrian Garcia, 14, and Francisco Monroy, 15, are both charged with attempted murder and burglary.
According to police, Garcia and Monroy, alleged members of the Hispanic street gang Eastwood Tokers, entered an unlocked door at the Hawaii Circle home of a 15-year-old from the rival gang Lima Street, and stabbed the teen repeatedly as he slept on the couch about 5:15 a.m that Sunday.
They were found hiding under the bed of Monroy's girlfriend who lived three houses from the victim, according to testimony.
The victim said Monday he and Monroy had a long-standing dispute since they were both locked up at the Nevada Youth Training Center in Elko. The boy had been released from custody just four days before the assault.
He also told the judge that in March, he'd chased a vehicle in which Garcia was a passenger after that vehicle almost hit his car.
"How did that end up," asked Garcia's defense attorney Bruce Lindsay.
"They went to their house and I left because I don't disrespect," the teen said.
On the morning of the stabbing, the boy said he didn't chase the two intruders any further than his porch because it was there that he realized he'd been stabbed.
"I started leaking," he said.
"You started leaking?" Deputy District Attorney Kristin Luis asked.
"I started bleeding," he explained. "I felt something gush down my back."
He said he woke his mother and she insisted they go to the hospital.
"She said, 'We have to go because you're bleeding bad,'" he recalled.
The teen said it was too dark in the house to see his assailants, but he saw their clothing as they ran down the street. He described their clothes to deputies at the hospital. After being released with staples and stitches for the seven stab wounds in his back and shoulder, the teen said, he was waiting in his aunt's car on Hawaii Circle while police searched his home, and he saw Garcia and Monroy emerge from Monroy's girlfriend's house.
"I knew it was them cause they were wearing the same clothes," he said.
Detective Daniel Gonzales testified that he was called to the scene and while there he noticed graffiti on the garage door three houses away from the victim's that identified another street gang, 18th Street, but it had been crossed out and replaced with graffiti for Lima Street. Those two gangs also are rivals, Gonzales said.
He said the graffiti sparked his curiosity, especially after learning that the girl in the house hangs with 18th Street, he said and he decided to knock on the door.
Gonzales said a small boy first answered and said he was home alone, but a short time later, the boy's father came out and invited officers inside.
When Gonzales said he asked for the man's daughter, the father explained she was in the shower and told the officers they could wait inside.
After being there for nearly an hour questioning the girl, Gonzales said, she maintained she knew nothing and told police to just arrest her.
The officer said he took the girl's father into her bedroom to explain to him that she could be arrested for violating probation.
"During this conversation I saw something moving under the bed," Gonzales said. "At first I thought it was a dog, then I thought it was a cat, then I realized it was a shoe."
He said he drew his weapon, shoved the father aside and ordered whomever out from under the bed. He said Monroy crawled out.
After detaining Monroy, Gonzales said, he decided to look under the bed for evidence and discovered Garcia.
Deputy John Trotter testified that he found footprints in the snow around the girl's house that matched footprints in the snow around the victim's house. He said he also recovered shoes from Monroy and Garcia that matched the prints.
Trotter said officers found a knife handle near the footprints and a knife from the girl's closet.
Detective Dave Legros is expected to testify Friday to what the victim and defendants told him in interviews.
• Contact reporter F.T. Norton at ftnorton@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1213.