‘The bus was my enemy': Court hears disturbing details in NJ Turnpike rock throwing

🚨 An 8-year-old girl is recovering from a fractured skull

🚨 Prosecutors say the suspect confessed to similar rock-throwing incidents

🚨 Defense attorneys argue the man should be held in a mental health facility

TEANECK — The man charged with throwing a rock at a school bus carrying third graders on the New Jersey Turnpike, injuring a girl's head, was ordered to remain behind bars at his detention hearing on Friday.

The hearing revealed additional details about the suspect, Hernando Garciamorales, a Mexican national who confessed to police he hurled a rock at the school bus carrying students from the Yeshivat Noam Jewish school home from a class trip on Jan. 4.

The rock struck an 8-year-old girl in the head, causing a fracture the size of a nickel, which required a titanium mesh plate and screws to be installed in her head, according to coverage of the hearing by The Ridgewood Blog. She also lost her right sinus.

During Friday's hearing, prosecutors said Garciamorales was charged with burglary in 2006 and was not taken into custody on the charge until 2023. He has lived at Old Croaker County Park in Teaneck, which is where he was arrested for the school bus rock throw.  He was charged with aggravated assault, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, endangering the welfare of a child, criminal mischief, resisting arrest by flight, and hindering.

Independent Online News reports ICE has a detainer out on Garciamorales. ICE did not respond to New Jersey 101.5's request for more information about the detainer.

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Suspect’s criminal history and charges

Defense attorney Heather Aguilar-Sposato, in arguing for her client to be held in a mental health facility, said that he is "clearly not mentally OK," citing Garciamorales' explanation for throwing a rock at the school bus as it being "his enemy and driving fast." She also said that Garciamorales had led a "law-abiding life" before his arrest in 2023.

After being read his Miranda rights police said Garciamorales admitted to eight other similar rock-throwing incidents, including throwing rocks at three police officers:

July 13: Garciamorales said he threw large rocks at a uniformed Bogota police officer and his patrol vehicle on West Fort Lee Avenue. He then ran away.

Sept. 10: Throwing rocks at people in the backyard of a home on Elm Avenue in Bogota from railroad tracks above them on West Shore Avenue.

Sept. 29: Peering into the bedroom window of a woman while she was trying to sleep while carrying a large stick. Garciamorales then admitted he went through a secured vinyl fence into the backyard, where he spent "an extended period of time."

Oct. 1: Threw rocks at a woman's 2014 BMW parked in a parking lot on West Fort Lee Road in Bogota, causing scratches.

Oct. 2: Garciamorales returned to West Fort Lee Road in Bogota and threw rocks at a Kia parked next to the BMW, shattering its windshield.

Oct 2: In the second incident of the day, Garciamorales admitted to approaching the fence line of a house on Elm Avenue and peering through the window of a woman's bedroom while she was trying to sleep.

Oct. 5: A uniformed Bogota police officer was struck in the leg by a rock Garciamorales threw at the officer on Elm Avenue

Oct.11: Garciamorales threw rocks at a uniformed Bogota police officer and his marked patrol vehicle on West Ford Lee Road. He failed to obey an order to stop and kept running.

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