Pokemon Go player killed as shooting takes life of innocent bystander

A man is standing trial for murdering a woman in 2019 who was caught in the middle of an armed robbery with her boyfriend while playing Pokemon Go.

Cayla Campos was killed in 2019 when she and her boyfriend were out one night playing Pokemon Go at a park in Albuquerque, New Mexico. 

The couple were in their car playing Pokemon Go when they drove up the park at the same time Izaiah Garcia was committing an armed robbery. Campos was then shot in her car and subsequently died from the shooting.

Now in 2024, Garcia stands trial and is being charged with first-degree murder and other crimes in the 2019 shooting of 21-year-old Cayla Campos.

This is not Garcia’s first offense. Previously, he was charged over the killing of a high school student three weeks after he killed Campos. Garcia was charged with a life sentence over the murder of the high school student but now also stands trial over the murder of Campos.

Prosecutors allege Campos was an innocent bystander who was fatally shot by Garcia as she tried to drive away from the scene of a robbery at Bianchetti Park.

Garcia’s co-defendant, Gabriel Marquez, told jurors that he had stolen a Louis Vuitton belt from the Mustang when Campos pulled up.

Campos attempted to flee the scene by making a turn on Granite NE and speeding away, Marquez testified.

“That’s when Izaiah started running after (the car),” Marquez said, before adding that Garcia repeatedly struck the rear window of Campos’ car with the barrel of an assault rifle.

Prosecutors also claimed that Garcia’s intended target was 21-year-old Christian Mattock, a man who was believed to be a rival of Garcia’s.

Marquez later testified that Garcia admitted he had killed Campos and that he knew that the victim was not Mattock. “That was when he told me that somebody passed away…He said it was a random person, and it wasn’t Christian.”

As well as this, Garcia has also been accused of killing a fellow inmate, with footage from the incident revealing an altercation between the two while serving their sentences.

We’ll be sure to keep you updated on this story as more developments are revealed in the coming weeks following the trial.