Fatal Encounters record · Independent third-party dataset
Thomas Garcia
December 13, 2005 · Palmyra, Burlington County
Details as recorded
Every value below is shown exactly as Fatal Encounters recorded it.[1]
- Name as recorded
- Thomas Garcia
- Age as recorded
- 62
- Gender as recorded
- Male
- Race as reported
- Hispanic/Latino
- Date of the injury resulting in death
- December 13, 2005
- Location as recorded
- Palmyra, Burlington County922 Highland Avenue Palmyra NJ 08065 Burlington
- Highest level of force as recorded
- Gunshot
Where the dataset places it
The marked point is the dataset's own geocoded location for this record, as recorded. Every other New Jersey record in the dataset is shown in gray. A point on a map is where a death was recorded, not a finding about anyone.
Agencies as recorded
Agency or agencies involved, as recorded: Riverton Borough Police Department
An agency appears here because it appears in the record's as-reported agency field, nothing more. Its presence is not a claim of fault or responsibility.
Department pages (matched by this site at high confidence)
The source's account
Fatal Encounters' description of the incident, verbatim. This is the source project's own third-party narrative, not this site's reporting.
Palmyra police responded to a 911 call reporting domestic violence taking place in Palmyra. Palmyra Patrolman John Quigg Jr., 42, and Riverton Patrolman, Tommy Merino, 37, responded. When police arrived at the scene Thomas Garcia exited the home armed with a knife and ran toward the officers, confronting them while brandishing the weapon. Garcia attacked and attempted to stab the officers. Garcia then attempted to stab officer Quigg in the chest and sliced a pouch located on the officer's duty belt with the knife. Officer Merino then shot and killed him.
Source reported by Fatal Encounters: http://nj-burlingtoncounty.civicplus.com/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/1308 (external link, as recorded in the dataset).
If you are a family member of the person named here, or represent one, and something in this record is wrong, or you want the record removed, requests go through the corrections page. Every request is checked against the source record.
This is one of 30 New Jersey records the dataset dates to 2005, and one of 19 it holds for Burlington County across 2000 to 2021. Browse every New Jersey Fatal Encounters record by year.
Records from the same county and year
- Tyrone P. Awkward (2005) November 6, 2005
Questions and answers
What does the Fatal Encounters dataset record about this incident?
Fatal Encounters records that Thomas Garcia died on December 13, 2005 in Palmyra, Burlington County, with "Gunshot" as the highest level of force. Fatal Encounters is an independent, crowdsourced dataset of deaths that occurred during police encounters of any kind; a record is not a finding of fault or misconduct.
Which agency or agencies were recorded as involved?
The record's agency field reads "Riverton Borough Police Department". Presence in that field means the agency appears in the record as reported, nothing more; it is not a claim of fault or responsibility by any officer or agency.
Where did this happen?
The record places the death in Palmyra, Burlington County, on December 13, 2005. The address as recorded is 922 Highland Avenue Palmyra NJ 08065 Burlington.
Sources
- [1]Fatal Encounters, New Jersey subset. Fatal Encounters (fatalencounters.org). Row 25510. Derived from the public Fatal Encounters national dataset (coverage 2000-2021; collection ended December 2021), https://fatalencounters.org/. Retrieved July 10, 2026. ↩