Pueblo Police still searching for woman suspected in bear mace attack of elderly man
Michael Logerwell
PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) – The cuts have become scars, the burning bear-mace sensation is gone, but the person responsible still runs free.
The Pueblo Police Department says they know who did it, but haven’t been able to make an arrest.
Mugshot from Pueblo County Sheriff’s Wanted Person Database
Stephanie Sanchez-Garza is wanted on 2nd Degree Assault of an at-risk person and Aggravated Robbery of an at-risk person.
“That bear spray felt like somebody had doused me with gas and lit it on fire,” long after the pain is gone, now 74-year-old Danny Pacheco still remembers the pain felt on Christmas night.
“Then she hit me again right here. Then she nailed me right here good. That’s when the blood started gushing,” Pacheco said.
His black eye has now healed, and the open wound above his eye is now just a scar, but the 74-year-old is still feeling the pain from that night.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: 73-year-old Pueblo man recovering after bear spray attack
“What they did, it messed up my lungs a little bit more than they were. okay? Now I have to see a cardiologist again. I got to see a pulmonary doctor again. I got an eye doctor. I got to check on this. You know, somebody’s got to pay for it. I can’t pay for it. And then they got the ambulance, and that’s like $24,000 right there,” Pacheco said.
While Pueblo Police Officers continue their search for Sanchez-Garza, Pacheco has made some changes. He no longer walks through neighboring Bessemer Park at night, only during the day. However, even then, that change hasn’t kept him completely safe.
“I’ve had homeless [people] come up there, stop right there. They’re laughing and say they’re looking, they’re going to get you. I go, ‘who’s going to get me?’ hahaha, you’ll see.”
“I’m scared, but I’m not scared. You know, the only thing that they can do to me is kill me,” He said, pausing. “And I’m already dying.”
Pacheco tells KRDO13 there was a second woman there that night, too, but police have not shared a second active warrant out for that woman.