A Tucson, Ariz., SWAT team defends shooting an Iraq War veteran 60 times during a drug raid, although it declines to say whether it found any drugs in the house and has had to retract its claim that the veteran shot first.
And the Pima County sheriff scolded the media for "questioning the legality" of the shooting.
Jose Guerena, 26, died the morning of May 5. He was asleep in his Tucson home after working a night shift at the Asarco copper mine when his wife, Vanessa, saw the armed SWAT team outside her youngest son's bedroom window.
"She saw a man pointing at her with a gun," said Reyna Ortiz, 29, a relative who is caring for Vanessa and her children. Ortiz said Vanessa Guerena yelled, "Don't shoot! I have a baby!"
Vanessa Guerena thought the gunman might be part of a home invasion -- especially because two members of her sister-in-law's family, Cynthia and Manny Orozco, were killed last year in their Tucson home, her lawyer, Chris Scileppi, said. She shouted for her husband in the next room, and he woke up and told his wife to hide in the closet with the child, Joel, 4.
Guerena grabbed his assault rifle and was pointing it at the SWAT team, which was trying to serve a narcotics search warrant as part of a multi-house drug crackdown, when the team broke down the door. At first the Pima County Sheriff's Office said that Guerena fired first, but on Wednesday officials backtracked and said he had not. "The safety was on and he could not fire," according to the sheriff's statement.
5.20.2011
Tucson SWAT team murders Iraq Marine veteran in his home
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10 comments:
First thing, if he was guilty it wouldn’t take two weeks for the county to come out with evidence.
They screwed up big time, they invaded a citizens house and killed him without evidence or cause, luckily not his wife and child because they are stupid. So now they are trying to figure out how to lie out of there screw up.
I have served in Iraq in combat zones, and we have rules of engagement. Obviously the Arizona SWAT team does not follow rules of engagement and kill without being held responsible. They do not care about innocents only killing.
If there was justice all officers involved would be under trial for murder. They could have handled it a dozens ways without guns a blazing.
BTW. Half the guys I know that have served in combat zones, own a AR-15 rifle and body Armour. Mine is military issued, and most military personnel serve as police officers or security guards. So the crap they confiscated from his house you would find in any veterans home.
Finally it is our right to question public servants. Your pay check comes from our taxes. You work for the people, do not forget.
Sheriff dept: "The safety was on and he could not fire,"
The safety was on because he could not safely identify the target. Marines are HIGHLY trained. You can not live through 2 Iraq tours when his safety was on and he could not fire. Why are the records sealed? Reaks of Stalin and Hitler. Why did the SWAT team lawyer-up? The SWAT team and the judge who order this murder SHOULD FACE THE DEATH PENALTY. They need to be held accountable and knocked off their high horse. Law enforcement are KGB and SS in one ugly badge. US law makers are Stalin and Hitler period.
We need to elect an anti-police president.
So, does this count for anything?
http://www.kvoa.com/news/pcsd-responds-to-swat-shooting-controversy/
Or are we to assume the police are randomly assassinating veterans for no reason?
Police are put in a very tough spot by the War on Drugs.
I don't know if we'll ever know the truth about whether the guy actually was involved in a home invasion ring (doesn't sound likely for a Marine with a young family who works the night shift in a mine) or whether the sheriffs clearly identified themselves (doesn't seem likely the guy would make verbal threats with the safety on to a bunch of heavily armed police).
The sheriff's changing story is suspicious, though. And this is Sheriff Dupnik, the guy who blamed political rhetoric for the Giffords shooting.
The War on Drugs puts cops in impossible positions where they sometimes shoot innocent people because they legitimately think their own lives are at risk. You can't really blame the cops.
THIS MAN WAS MURDERED BY A TEAM OF THUGS, GANG MEMBERS, STERIOD HEADS CALLED A SWAT TEAM. THIS IS HAPPENING NATIONWIDE ALL THE TIME. ITS TIME WE TAKE A STAND. HOW MUCH MORE ARE WE GOING TO TAKE?!!!!!!!
ARM YOUR SELF. BE PREPARDED TO DEFEND YOUR LIFE, YOUR LOVE ONES YOUR HOME. THE REVOLUTION IS HERE!
It seems they were looking for people posing as law enforcement and breaking into himes.....
They should have looked in the mirror.
This is probably a bunch of dirty cops and this was a botched robbery. NYPD used to be well known for this crap.
Where's the warrant? Why is it sealed?
Guerena was obviously in the wrong... according to the Indiana Supreme Court.
That sheriff down there is doing a heckuva job.
the war on drugs is crap. i know cops who do drugs regularly. the longest war in history. the war on drugs has killed a lot more people than drugs ever has. SWAT are terrorists who break into peoples homes. why didn't they wait for him to leave his house. or wait for his wife and child to at least leave the house. it's our right to have a gun. they broke in to that man's house and they have no good reason for it. if i'm not mistaken, he wasn't convicted of anything. this is sick and it should scare us all. power can't really be taken! we give power! we give these crazy people their power by not exorcizing our rights. learn what they are. we loose what we don't use.
bullshit it wasent neccesary to shoot a man sixty times, thats murder, they could have stayed outside and requested him to come out, or get him at his work. drugs or not this is fucked up.
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