Waukesha Woman Pleads Not Guilty to Killing Boyfriend

A 29-year-old Waukesha woman pleaded not guilty to killing her on-again, off-again boyfriend in Milwaukee on Monday.

Diana Garcia, who is charged with second-degree reckless homicide, faces up to 15 years in prison if she is convicted of shooting and killing her boyfriend, Atonio Duran Jr.

Duran was found shot by a Milwaukee police officer after he was shot around 3 p.m. June 8. Duran had a gunshot wound to the back of the head. He was transported to Froedtert Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 6:31 a.m. Sunday.

A witness in the 1800 block of South 12th Street in Milwaukee told police he saw Duran and Garcia talking and later heard a gunshot and saw Garcia leaving the scene, the complaint states.

Garcia and Duran dated off and on for about 12 years, she told a Milwaukee officer, and they stopped dating in July 2012. However, they started seeing each other again in April, the complaint states.

Garcia went to a club in Milwaukee and left Duran’s home around 9:30 a.m. June 8 to pick up her children. She returned to his home after finding her mother and her children were not home, but Duran slammed the door on her, called her a bad mother and grabbed her hair and pulled a gun on her head, she told police, according to the criminal complaint.

Garcia went to her car, grabbed her gun and Duran started clinging to her car but then returned to his gun, she told police. Garcia shot Duran in the back of the head because she was afraid he would get the gun, according to the criminal complaint.

Garcia meant to scare Duran and not shoot him, she told police. Garcia told an investigator she threw the gun in the lake, the complaint states.

However, when she was interviewed on June 9, she told investigators she actually gave the gun to her sister and that she was unsure if there was a gun in the yard when she shot Duran, the complaint states.

Milwaukee police officers did not locate a gun near Duran’s body, the complaint states.