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WEST VALLEY — Around a dozen people gathered outside the home where 36-year-old Tequila Garcia lived, near 2855 W. 3785 South, to honor her memory Sunday night.
Angela Jones says she and Garcia became best friends after the two met while attending an alternative high school.
“She was a bright soul. She would have given you the shirt off her back,” Jones said. “(She) always greeted you with a smile ... called you gorgeous, beautiful.”
Police say Garcia was killed after being hit by a vehicle outside her apartment Sunday morning, after an argument with her two roommates. Officers later caught up with those two roommates, Andres Mendoza and Alejandra Olivia Morales-Molina. Investigators believe one of their cars was involved in the crash.
Both were booked into the Salt Lake County jail on suspicion of domestic violence and criminal homicide.
“Nobody deserves this,” Jones said. “Especially somebody as beautiful as Tequila. ... She didn’t deserve this.”
Another close friend, Russ Jensen, says Garcia always had a smile on her face.
“She just had this personality; she was just so open and friendly,” Jensen said. “She had a way of connecting with people.”
Jones says hearing about the crash early Sunday was not easy.
“Horrible. The most horrible news I could ever hear,” Jones said.
As she and others held candles, and shared messages and memories, Jones says she believes her close friend was there too.
“She’s looking down at us,” Jones said. “She knows that she was loved. She had love. She had the most beautiful love in the world.”
