SALINA -A federal grand jury returned an indictment Tuesday charging a woman for crimes related to the 2015 homicide of a Salina teenager, according to a media release from the U.S. Attorney’s office.
The indictment charges 21-year-old Azucena Garcia-Ferniza, a citizen of Mexico, with one count of possession of a firearm while unlawfully in the United States, one count of accessory to a crime after the fact, and one count of having knowledge of a felony that she did not report to law enforcement. The crimes are alleged to have occurred May 7, 2015, in the hours following the shooting death of 17-year-old Allie Saum.
If convicted, Garcia-Ferniza faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000 on the firearm charge, and a maximum penalty of three years and a fine up to $250,000 on the misprision charge. On the charge of knowingly giving aid to a person who committed a crime, she faces a maximum sentence of half of the sentence for the person who committed the crime.
The firearm, a .45 caliber Glock 30 handgun, is believed to be the murder weapon used in the Saum shooting. According to an arrest affidavit from the Salina Police Department, Garcia-Ferniza tried to hide the firearm allegedly used in the murder to prevent law enforcement from finding it. She had placed the firearm in her pants while law enforcement officers were obtaining a search warrant for her residence. The officers located and took possession of the firearm from her. She was then arrested and subsequently charged in state court with interference with a law enforcement officer, concealing evidence, and two counts of aggravated endangerment a child. Later that day, she freely and voluntarily admitted to having the firearm in her possession and attempting to conceal it from law enforcement officers.
Garcia-Ferniza is one of six suspects charged in the murder of Saum, who was shot on the evening of May 6, 2015, in what prosecutors have called a case of mistaken identity. Police say the shooting was the result of a fight that occurred earlier that same day. The suspects were part of a group of people that were out seeking revenge for the fight. One of the suspects mistakenly identified the male driver of a pickup, later identified as Saum’s boyfriend, as someone that had been involved in the fight. Shots were fired into the pickup in the 800 block of Russell and Saum, who was in the passenger’s side of the truck, was struck in the head. She succumbed to her injuries shortly after midnight on May 7, 2015.
Garcia-Ferniza was taken into federal custody in late August and later turned over to Saline County authorities. According to the Saline County Sheriff’s Office, she has been an inmate of the Saline County Jail since October 29.
The federal case against Garcia-Ferniza was investigated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brent Anderson is prosecuting the case.