Posted on 08/20/2013 8:29:40 AM PDT by Uncle Chip
The last update in the Jose Guerena case–5.2 on February 1, 2012–concluded, as have all the others, with many unanswered questions. What is known is that Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik claimed that it could take an enormous amount of time to investigate this case, and it could be a very long time before any arrests were made.
This article, for those that have not been following this case closely, is a brief review of developments through Update 3 to bring you up to speed as I continue reporting and analysis. I’ll also add a bit of new information in this article, but will save most of it for additional articles soon to be posted.
On May 5, 2011, a SWAT team comprised of elements of four local law enforcement agencies performed a raid on the home of Jose Guerena, a Marine combat veteran of two tours, in Tucson, AZ.
Guerena, who worked long hours at a nearby Copper Mine, had arrived home only a few hours earlier and was sound asleep when the team arrived.
Briefly spotting what she recognized as armed men in their yard, Jose’s wife Vanessa, a native of Mexico who did not speak English well, told Jose, who leapt from bed wearing only boxer shorts. He hid Vanessa and his four year old son in a closet in a back bedroom, and picking up the weapon nearest at hand, an AR-15 with a scope, prepared to defend his home and family.
Smashing in the door, the officers unleashed a panicky fusillade of 71 bullets, striking Jose only 22 times. They ventilated not only Guerena’s home, but a substantial portion of the neighborhood, and over the course of more than an hour, let Jose bleed to death.
The police first claimed that they fired only in response to Guerena’s firing on them, but upon discovering that not only had Guerena’s weapon not been fired, he had not flicked off the safety, changed their story.
Suddenly, Guerena became a “mid level drug gang” enforcer, a suspect in a murder, and the possessor or police uniforms and equipment, later revised to a single bullet resistant vest—likely his Marine issue—and a ball cap with a “border Patrol” logo. Not a single marijuana seed was found in his home, nor any evidence of wrong doing .......
Glad to see this story hasn’t been forgotten and thanks for posting this.
I don’t know what ticked me off more about this, the action of the cops or the few that were here defending them.
Here’s a vid of the raid: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3056468/posts?q=1&;page=1
Oops, wrong link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP0f00_JMak
A 54 second long video of the raid, recorded by the police on the scene, is available here. Update 1 contains a complete tactical analysis of the video, which I’ll not take the time to repeat here, but these facts are pertinent:
(1) Notice the “me too!” shooter near the end of the video. He comes from the left, slings his rifle behind his back, draws his handgun, runs to the door, sticks it between the heads of two fellow officers, and fires several rounds. Not only did he directly endanger his fellow officers, he could have had no idea what he was shooting at, and no idea where his bullets were going. This is the kind of stupidity and negligence that should cause any officer anywhere to be fired.
(2) This is, without a doubt, the most disorganized, incompetent SWAT action I have ever seen. I’ve seen a few.
(3) During an action the police would only later describe as being incredibly dangerous, the takedown of the home of a drug cartel hit man, they are playing music in their vehicle, which tends not to suggest they were taking things terribly seriously.
(4) The officer’s fire was uncontrolled and absolutely panic-stricken.
(5) Nearly 70% of the rounds fired by the officers–at very close range inside a home–missed Guerena. They even managed to shoot the door and door frame surrounding them as they frantically shot up the house. It’s a miracle they didn’t shoot each other–as far as we know (the door was open during the shooting and the outward edge was also hit several times).
(6) No drugs, indeed, nothing at all illegal or remotely suspicious was found in Guerena’s home (the police later claimed a shotgun reported stolen years before was found, but this is suspicious at best–more in following articles). The bullet resistant vest mentioned by the police–probably his Marine issue–was found in his garage in a plastic storage bin. He was given the Border Patrol hat because he applied to be a Border Patrol agent. This was the extent of the “police uniforms” the police claimed to have found.
(7) Seconds after the end of the video, the police, in a panic, retreated and would not enter the house for an hour and 15 minutes. Guerena was not dead, but they denied him medical care, sending in two successive robots to poke and prod him, and actually got a doctor to declare him dead by phone. She never saw or examined Guerena.
(8) Jose’s wife, Vanessa, called 911 and begged for medical help for Jose immediately after he was shot. She pled:
“Hurry up, he’s bleeding. I don’t know why they shoot him. They open the door and shoot him. Please get me an ambulance.”
When she came to the open front door minutes later, the police grabbed her and would not allow her back inside despite her pleas to get her infant son who was still inside with his dying father.
(9) The police claimed they saw Guerena pointing a rifle at them, but this is highly unlikely. His home was dark–he slept during the day–and they rushed into the home out of bright morning sunlight. It’s probable they couldn’t see anything at all.
Immediately, the police started spinning, claiming that their SWAT team was one of the nation’s best. Rick Kastigar, the chief of investigations for the Pima Co. Sheriff’s Office was among the spinners. He claimed Jose was “the muscle” of a drug ring, “the individual that was directed to exact revenge. The police have never explained how Guerena managed such activity while working full time in a physically demanding job in a copper mine.
I hope the family wins a $50M judgment from the county for this atrocity.
Yes, that "me too" guy really go me, sick bastid.
IIRC, the cops had to search the adjacent homes to make sure there were no other victims due to their stray wall of flying lead.
This is one of those cases that just really gets under my skin.
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