‘My heart is broken’: Fremont man gets 40 years to life for ‘straight-up cold-blooded’ murder

DUBLIN — A Fremont man was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison for second degree murder, but not until after he heard from a long line of his victim’s friends and family, including his young daughter who lamented the loss of “my best friend in the whole world.”

Kamalpreet Singh, 30, was sentenced May 18 by Judge Paul Delucchi, who called Singh a cold-blooded killer and a liar before pronouncing sentence. Singh was convicted in April of murdering 32-year-old Anthony Garza in an April 2020 shooting Mowry East Shopping Center in Fremont. He later confessed to the crime but argued at trial that his employer was responsible for everything.

Family and friends of Garza spoke at length during the hearing, describing Garza as a deeply religious man who worked with at-risk youth and was planning to wed the mother of his daughter. Garza’s mother, siblings, friends, pastor, and daughter, all spoke or submitted letters to Delucchi.

“I miss his homemade chicken and waffles and his weekly phone call check-ins,” his sister, Christina Flores, said at sentencing. “I miss his stories, sharing late night YouTube videos that has us laughing to the point of crying, his cooking, and the way he always embraced me with a big bearhug.”

The murder, said Garza’s brother, has left family members anxiety-ridden and distressed, and has tainted once-happy memories of moments they enjoyed together around the Bay Area.

“He was excited about life and his next adventure and you could see it in him,” Garza’s brother, Robert Flores, said. “I loved that about him.”

Delucchi did not mince words before reading off the sentence, sharing his own doubts about Singh’s story that he confessed and fled the state not because he was guilty, but because he feared Garza’s real killer. In addition to the confession evidence, Singh’s car was irrefutably being driven by the man who killed Garza, according to video and trial testimony.

“What I saw, in all candor, was a straight-up cold-blooded killing and what I heard was the murderer get on the stand and lie through his teeth about it,” Delucchi said. “There is no diplomatic way to put it.”

In court papers, prosecutors admitted that Garza had, in fact, been in a prior conflict with Singh’s employer, but said the evidence clearly showed Singh was the killer. No one else has been charged to date with ordering or aiding the murder.

Crystle Creech, Garza’s fiancee, described him as her “motivation” and “inspiration” and said one of the hardest things about the grieving process was listening to “all the nonsense and lies” during trial. Garza’s daughter submitted a heartbreaking letter in which she recounted how her life is sadder since her father’s passing.

“My heart is broken because I don’t have my dad here to watch me grow up. I can’t go to the park with my dad anymore,” the girl wrote. “I can’t run and jump into his arms…I loved him so much. He was my best friend in the whole world and he’s taken from me.”