The maniac accused of hurling a rock at a school bus from a New Jersey Turnpike overpass — fracturing the skull of an 8-year-old girl — is an illegal immigrant from Mexico with a long rap sheet, The Post has learned.
Hernando Garcia-Morales, 40, allegedly threw the baseball-sized stone on Jan. 7 at a bus returning to Teaneck after a field trip to the Liverty Science Center.
Garcia-Morales told cops he believed the bus “was the devil or his enemy” when he was arrested two days after the attack at a homeless encampment in Palisades Park, NJ.
on Friday Jan. 16. USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
Federal officials told The Post this week the unhinged menace should never have been in the USA to begin with.
The Department of Homeland Security does not know when or where Garcia-Morales illegally entered the country but his criminal history in the Garden State stretches back two decades.
In 2006 he was arrested for possession of a weapon and theft, according to DHS. And he was in trouble with the law twice in 2023, the agency revealed, but was not charged in sanctuary state.
On July 23, 2023, Garcia-Morales was arrested for burglary after allegedly entering a building in Hackensack, NJ, DHS reported. Those charges were not pursued. The following day, he was arrested again in Hackensack and charged with giving false information and attempted burglary.
Those charges were downgraded by the Municipal Court of Hackensack on Sept. 20, 2023 and Garcia-Morales walked away with only a 30-day jail sentence and $905 fine for disorderly conduct.
In the 2006 arrest in Hackensack, he was convicted on both charges and sentenced to 330 days in jail, according to DHS.
He is a suspect in several other rock-throwing incidents last year, where cars and cops were targeted, authorities said. He has twice been accused of peeping into homes in Bogota, NJ, according to authorities, NorthJersey.com reported.
Despite his illegal status and alleged violence, Garcia-Morales never faced deportation because of New Jersey’s sanctuary immigration policies, DHS claimed.
“Violently targeting a school bus full of children is extremely wicked and heinous,” said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. “Hernando Garcia-Morales should have never been in this country, let alone released after multiple arrests into New Jersey communities.
“ICE has lodged an arrest detainer against this monster, and we hope New Jersey’s sanctuary politicians will help us keep him off American streets for good,” McLaughlin said.
The Department of Justice is currently suing four Garden State cities for obstructing federal immigration authorities with policies that prevent local law enforcement from coordinating with federal immigration agencies to deport illegal-alien criminals.
Meanwhile, the injured third-grader is back at her family’s Bergenfield home, according to her family and supporters.
“She’s back and recovering well — and very happy to hear her attacker was apprehended,” Teaneck Mayor Mark Schwartz told The Post.
The girl attends Yeshivat Noam school in Teaneck.
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She suffered a deep laceration on her forehead and fracture the size of a nickel to her orbital bone, according to prosecutors.
She was taken to Hackensack Meridian Hospital where she underwent surgery with doctors inserting titanium mesh plates and screws in her head to remedy the severe damage.
“The family hopes that the individual responsible will be prosecuted to the fullest extent permitted by law for his heinous actions,” said family attorney Ross Rothenberg.
Garcia-Morales has been charged with aggravated assault, resisting arrest, possession of a weapon, criminal trespassing, and criminal mischief in the rock attack. His lawyer, Heather Aguliar, said he suffers from mental illness. He has yet to file a formal plea.
In the mugshot photo after his arrest, Garcia-Morales is seen with mouth bizarrely open, flaunting a missing front tooth.
Garcia-Morales appeared in Superior Court on Jan. 16 where Judge Marc Ramundo ruled he would remain in Bergen County jail until the case is resolved.“Just the extraordinary randomness presents that extra level of danger to the community,” Ramundo said in court.
