Miguel Ángel González Varela did not act in the heat of the moment.
The domestic violence against his daughter occurred at 11:58 at night on July 4. She was injured in the head while trying to get away from her attacker, and her sister, who stepped in, was also assaulted. The young woman’s mother called her father and told him what had happened. He then went looking for his son-in-law, Whisler Jared Rancel Galarza, 21, at the Manuel Zeno Gandía housing complex in Arecibo, Puerto Rico. When he found him, he shot him.
The 9-1-1 call reporting the gunshot victim came in at 1:53 in the morning. The young man died at Puerto Rico Medical Center at 5:25. At 3:45, González Varela, 60, a former director of the Arecibo Municipal Public Works Department with a license to carry firearms, turned himself in to the police and admitted that he had done it because his son-in-law had hurt his daughter
The judge set bail at 200.000 dollars, which he could not pay, so he spent the night in prison charged with first-degree murder. His family opened a GoFundMe account to raise the bail money and pay for his defense.
A father’s grief or taking justice into his own hands?
