Was this an EEO sort of thing?
I have no way of knowing the truth, but this rings false to me:
“”The suspect said, ‘I’ve got something for you,’ when he saw them,”
Hmmm...US Marine Corps vet, two tours in Iraq, has a gun and when faced with a bunch of armed men...talks before shooting?
My son-in-law did two tours in Iraq with the Marines (infantry). I cannot imagine him saying a word in those circumstances. I’m a USAF vet, never shot anyone with a rifle, and my home defense weapon of choice is a 44 Mag revolver - and I cannot imagine playing James Bond and making a wisecrack before shooting. The first sound will be the 44 firing.
Don’t know, but that part really stuck out to me as being odd.
Police change story in fatal shooting; wife wants answers
http://www.kold.com/story/14604192/wife
Vanessa Guerena wants answers from police after they acknowledged that her husband did not shoot at them before they shot him to death.
Pima County Sheriff’s investigators said Monday that contrary to initial reports, Jose Guerena did not fire at them Thursday as they served a search warrant for his home. Nevertheless, deputies shot and killed him.
Guerena did have a gun in his hand and pointed it at the officers, but he did not fire it, said Deputy Erin Gibson with the sheriff’s department.
Vanessa Guerena was in her son’s room, she says, when she saw a man outside pointing a gun at her.
“I was yelling ‘Jose, Jose, somebody’s here. Wake up, wake up!’ so he can hear because the door was closed.”
26-year-old Jose Guerena, a Tucson native and former Marine, jumped up and asked what was wrong. When his wife told him, he grabbed an assault rifle and told her to stay in their son’s room.
“The only thing he told me, the last thing he told me - Vani ,go into the closet with the kid. Go!”
So that’s what she did with their 4-year-old son.
It was the last time she saw her husband of nearly nine years alive.
First, I doubt very seriously that the SWAT teams,as a whole, have any kind of physiological screening. Mine doesn't. This is a critical fault because you don't need cowboys on a SWAT team - the number of “non-targets” in and around a SWAT operation greatly out number the officers and objectives of the raid. Hitting a non-target should result in immediate removal from the SWAT team plus every SWAT member involved in the raid need to be decertified and sent back through training.
Second, I doubt very seriously that most SWAT teams have to re qualify on a regular basis. If SWAT is the top of the ladder then they MUST ensure that everyone is at the top of their game all the time. If you don't have a regular re certification program how do you know the quality of the team.
Third, I would pay the SWAT team a bonus for every raid that is executed that they don't fire their weapons. Right now they have all these nifty toys and a hard ass image to live up to.
Yes, I realize that we only hear about the botched raids. But what is the threshold for the acceptable number of “non-target” WIA/KIA? It will be much better for the individual SWAT organizations to develop and maintain a quality control program on their own rather than having it forced upon them by the courts. It is coming - the question is which way interferes with SWAT operations the least?
Here’s an earlier version of this same story from 6 days ago:
http://azstarnet.com/news/local/crime/article_04c18c5a-774f-11e0-8c3d-001cc4c03286.html
The house address or rather the neighborhood is listed.
Because home-invaders never shout "police!" </sarcasm>
Pima County? The sheriff runs that county ...
Sheriff Clarence Dupnik
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/08/sheriff-clarence-dupnik-a_n_806303.html
Is this a related incident?
Sounds like 2 suspects involved and related to me, but it is unclear.
http://www.kold.com/story/14603506/copy-report-shows-man-shot-7-times-by-tucson-police
I always heard that, when facing armored attackers, to aim for the spot just above the upper lip and below the nose, or from there up the brim of any helmet your assailant might be wearing. Keep it centered either way.
bump for later
Perhaps they learned their tactics from the Libyan rebels - 3 shots at the target and 68 into the air....................
Each and every one of us, no matter how bad ass you think you are, no matter how law-abiding you have been, no matter what, can be gunned down by the jackbooted militarized police forces in this country ... because they got the wrong house, because an ex-employee with an axe to grind told the police a lie, an ex-spouse wants to get full custody of the kids, because an ex-roommate used to deal some weed ...
Or even for no reason at all other than they have the power to do it. And get away with it.
What if he were wandering harmlessly out the front door of COSTCO with his wife and the rest of the store crowd...?
Here’s a Google map of the distance from the fire station to the Guerena home. Google maps the distance indirectly as 1,200 feet from the house to the paramedics. If you look at the map, it’s actually closer taking Oakbank. Regardless, we know these paramedics. They’ve served us well. They would not have hesitated helping this Marine unless ordered.
I’ll bet the SEAL’s who took down bin Laden didn’t fire 71 shots. But they are professionals.
“A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows,
is God in his holy dwelling. “ (Psalm 68:5)
May the widow and her children turn to God during their time of grief and afterward.
Anyone have any estimates about what a home 1. audio and
2. video recording system would cost? And 3, what an
offsite backup would cost too. Having a record would end
(one hopes) disputes about police self identification etc.