Posted on 05/28/2011 12:39:29 AM PDT by Do Not Make Fun Of His Ears
A defense attorney for the Pima County Sheriff's SWAT team defended the actions of the officers, saying it was a "standard operation."
"When you take into account five shooters, it doesn't seem excessive," says Mike Storie.
The five officers fired 71 shots into a small hallway in seven seconds, killing former Marine Jose Guerena.
Officers were trying to serve a search warrant, and say the 26-year-old pointed a gun at them.
"This is a standard operation," says Storie. "The only thing unusual about this operation is unseen."
Unseen, because while a one-minute videotape released by the sheriff's department shows the actions of the officers, what is not seen is what is going on inside the house when the shooting happened.
"Put yourself in their shoes as they breech the door, fully marked as police," he says. "They faced an AR-15. What would you do?"
There's no way to confirm what the officers saw. Although the officers were separated and gave statements after the shooting. They told essentially the same story, Storie said.
What's evident on the tape, is that the officers fired very quickly. Guerena has 20 wounds on his body, most from bullets, but others could have been fragments of wood or other flying debris, officials said.
Storie says the officers were trying to protect one of their own.
The officer in the video who is carrying the shield - the first one into the house once the door was breeched - tripped and fell. The other officers then used what's known as "suppressive" firing.
They were, as seen on the video, trying to drag the officer away from the front door.
"Officers are taught to keep firing until the threat is resolved," Storie says.
(Excerpt) Read more at kold.com ...
Every SWAT officer was wearing a helmet cam, what do they mean with a statement like this?
I’d like to introduce three additional steps into this process. First, the judge who signs the search warrant....needs to come with the team and be part of the process. If anything gets screwed up, he needs to be part of the screwed up process. If these judges knew the risk involved for innocent civilians....they would not be so hasty in signing the document.
Second, there needs to be a $5 million bond that the cops post before the judge signs off...that immediately goes to the innocent folks involved if the cops screw up....and they’d still get the right to sue for normal damages. The bond would trigger the city/county council into thinking about limits for the police.
Third, SWAT was originally devised for L.A.’s conflicts with various revolutionary groups in the 1960s. I believe we’ve taken this to a whole new level...and it might be time to trim back the costs and funding involved.
IMHO...
If a large collection of drugs, money and weapons was found inside, a SWAT team would have been understandable; since they were not, I don’t see how a SWAT team was called for.
As far as that video of them hanging outside and firing, I would think that, if there were several well-armed individuals inside, they could have circled around outside and very much hurt that team. I’m not a professional, but in every room-clearing video of military guys doing this that I’ve seen, they all go in no matter what, real fast, and start securing every room in a methodical way, so as to not get caught in a huddle at the door. I was simply amazed when I saw them standing in the doorway firing; it seemed very dangerous for them, not to mention they had no idea who was in their line of fire. What if a few little kids walked through ?
Are they trained correctly ? Am I missing something ?
Although the officers were separated and gave statements after the shooting. They told essentially the same story, Storie said.
= = =
they weren’t separated, until almost 2 hours after the event. most of which time, they were just standing around talking...
...the released video, shows them smiling and relaxed.
and the wife called 911, an abulance arrived immediately. SWAT kept them waiting for 1 hour and 14 minutes...
that would be AMPLE time to prepare their
“essentially the same story”.
i’m also curious, if they were wearing sunglasses, and never entered the dark house until after they fired 71 shots, at a man they say was crouching at the end of the hallway, HOW did they see that he had a gun pointed at them?
(a gun his wife his wife saw SWAT place next to his body. she admitted her Marine husband had a gun... a pistol!)
Perhaps a hit, not an accident.
good point. one of the SWAT team, saw the wife through the window, so they knew her at at least one child might be inside. the wife’s statement said her husband was asleep with the youngest child, when she saw the man with the gun throught the window...
and they unloaded like that? if that Marine hadn’t put his wife and child safely in the closet first, probably they’d be dead also.
PDF of wife’s interrogation by police is linked here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2725997/posts
Nothing is an accident.
They are training them to be crappy cops....just like they are training our military to have their hands tied behind their back and reducing or eliminating standards so women and minorities can pass the testing.
They are destroying us from within...they control the media, schools, the congress and now the white house and many of the judges ....I am talking about the Soros communists who want to destroy us from within and create a one world government.
Doesn’t seem excessive to who?
Sounds like panic. the cops are being taken over by fairies.
First, I wouldn't break into an occupied residence, a capital crime under the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God, regardless of attire.
That POV is enough to eliminate all SWAT teams right there.
"Put yourself in the homeowner's shoes as someone breeches the door with a loud bang and several people rush in. How would you identify anyone in that split second? What would you do? What would you do?"
The county medical examiner has released a statement saying that Jose Guerena was hit by 22 bullets.
All four homes in raid tied to Guerena familyAnd while initial reports were that doctors told the Guerena family that Jose had been shot 60 times, the Pima County medical examiner's preliminary report says he was shot 22 times. In its sole briefing on the incident, the Sheriff's Department said SWAT team members fired 71 rounds.
apprimately 5 officers huddled around a door- blocking each others’ line of sight and line of fire
no one watching the window to the left
the officer that breached the door turns his back to the door and walks back through the crowd of cops
once the firing starts, one officer runs past the open door, and sticks his weapon in th eopening to get his ‘i wanna shoot too’ shots in
this was a poorly executed (no pun intended) raid performed by poorly trained officers with exacly the outcome that one would expect
SWAT: We want to act like Seal Team Six
Why would the POLICE release information that might cause people to question thier activities?
71 ÷ 7 = 10.142857143
Sounds pretty overkill to me. Not a defensible action.
"When you take into account five shooters, it doesn't seem excessive," says Mike Storie.
71 ÷ 5 = 14.2
Sounds pretty overkill to me. Not a defensible action.
It seems to me they could have just rung the doorbell, shown their badges and warrant, and then demanded that they be let in to look around.
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