photo by: Mugshot courtesy of the Shawnee County Sheriff's Office

Elijah Joseph Garcia is pictured with the Douglas County Judicial and Law enforcement Center.

A Lawrence man was ordered to stand trial Monday after witnesses testified that he beat them bloody with a pistol and fired the gun in a moving car in which a 5-year-old was a passenger.

A witness told the court that a group of four people — herself; her male friend; her friend’s 5-year-old; and the defendant, Elijah Joseph Garcia — were returning to Lawrence late at night from an Oktoberfest event in Topeka when Garcia, who was in the backseat behind her with the child, began “drunk ranting” and calling her names. The woman said she barely knew Garcia but that he was a friend of her friend.

Her male friend, who was driving her Chevy Equinox, told Garcia, 27, not to treat the woman like that and said that they would have it out later, the woman said.

The abuse then escalated, with Garcia allegedly striking both people in the front seat multiple times with the handgun and his fists while the man tried to drive on a highway. Which highway they were on between Topeka and Lawrence wasn’t clear. The woman said it was dark and rainy and that she was unfamiliar with the routes, but she thought it was a two-lane road. The driver said he did not recall the route.

While the adults were vying for control of the gun in the moving car, the car seemed to strike a guardrail or some object, the woman said, and Garcia “shot holes in the roof,” said the male friend — the father of the child. The woman also testified that the gun was fired close to her head and that the windshield of her car was broken out.

The woman said that she was desperately trying to keep the weapon pointed up and away from the child. The male friend said he tried to pull over but Garcia wouldn’t get out and simply demanded to be taken home. Both the woman and the friend testified that they feared for their lives.

“It was the craziest thing you’ve ever seen,” she said, “like a maniac.”

How her friend continued to operate the car was baffling to her.

“I don’t even know how he was driving that vehicle. He was completely covered in blood,” she said.

She testified that she had to get stitches for the injury on her face and that her cheekbone was fractured, and the male friend said that a hospital nurse recommended that he also get stitches, although he declined to do so.

The male friend drove to Garcia’s house on Brush Creek Drive in southern Lawrence, where more violence allegedly occurred as Garcia exited the car. The woman said Garcia hit her friend on the head again with a gun, which discharged during the assault.

At some point near the end of the altercation she was able to make some video footage with her phone for just a few seconds.

“We’re either going to die, or we’re going to live to tell this,” she said, hoping that whatever video she could manage would be evidence.

Lawrence Police Detective Alexander Brittain testified that when he encountered the victims that they were both still bleeding. He said the few seconds of video footage, which was not played in court, revealed the woman telling Garcia to get out of the car and showed a black handgun in Garcia’s hand. It also showed Garcia hitting the male friend outside the car with yet a different gun and that gun going off, he said.

Later a search of Garcia’s residence pursuant to a warrant turned up a pistol in his garage and another handgun in the cushions of his couch; both weapons had blood on them, Brittain said.

At the end of Monday’s hearing, Judge Stacey Donovan ordered Garcia to stand trial on an amended complaint that includes two counts of aggravated battery, two counts of aggravated assault, one count of aggravated endangering of a child and one count of criminal damage to property, all felonies.

Garcia, who is out of custody on $25,000 cash or surety bond, is scheduled for arraignment on Tuesday.

He has previous convictions in 2022 for DUI and possessing a firearm while under the influence.