SWAT entry questioned in Marine's death

KGUN9 ^ | 5/13/2011 | Joel Waldman

[petitfour]

They killed a man in his house. They lied about sirens. They searched two other houses in the neighborhood because their bullets must've strayed. Or that is what they make it sound like. Now where is the warrant?

[max americana]

Those sheriff scum even lied and recanted the previous statement.

[RC one]

this kind of thing is getting so common that people don’t even think twice about it anymore. That’s something to think twice about.

[MplsSteve]

We had something like this happen in Minneapolis a few years ago.

A Minneapolis Police High Risk Entry team (aka SWAT) attacked the wrong house while executing a search warrant based on a statement made an ex-con.

They did not announce themselves. They started hammering the front door open with a battering ram. The guy inside grabbed his pistol and opened fire. The police returned fire.

Amazingly, no one was killed or even injured - except after the police took the guy into custody. They smacked him around. Later on, the police chief issued a kinda-sorta apology.

[Talisker]

petitfour: They killed a man in his house. They lied about sirens. They searched two other houses in the neighborhood because their bullets must've strayed. Or that is what they make it sound like. Now where is the warrant?

max americana: Those sheriff scum even lied and recanted the previous statement.

They also held back paramedics for an hour until they were sure he bled to death.

This obscene SWAT murder madness is everywhere. SWAT teams have become like WWII Buzz Bombs over London - they hit each night, smash into a house and kill people, and walk away grinning. And they don't need a warrant, you don't have to be guilty of anything, they are never held to account for their killings and maimings - and you never know if you're next.

This is jackboot insanity, nothing less. This is what generations of American died fighting to prevent happening here.

But it's here.

[Ken H]

...a sheriff's deputy said the department makes it clear when SWAT is about to enter a home.

Did they make it clear in this case?

______________________________________

Lt. Michael O'Connor says SWAT says it never wants to be mistaken for other people, "We had our large armored vehicle there with the markings on it. It also has lights and sirens. It was going.

Note he does not actually say that the lights and sirens were going. OTOH, the wife and a neighbor are on record as saying they were not.

______________________________________

So we do everything we can to try to portray the image that we're law enforcement, we're not home invaders."

Again, he doesn't actually say they did so in this case.

[MplsSteve]

Your post is spot-on. I used to be one of those people who was of the “Law Enforcement is Always right” - but over the last five years, I’ve changed my tune.

While I hate to possibly invoke Godwin’s Law, this type of increasing incident seems to remind me of jack-booted thugs from an earlier time who had no respect for human right or the rule of law.

[VeniVidiVici]

Why, this is Pima County Sheriff's Office. Home of Sheriff Dupnik who blamed Republicans for the Giffords shooting EVEN THOUGH his office had done nothing to get the shooter, Gerald Loughner, evaluated.

I'm completely unsurprised that Dupnik runs this poorly trained SWAT unit.

[HiTech RedNeck]

You’d sure think the sheriff would have filmed the entire scene, showing this supposed siren and lights display while the raid progressed. If he meant what he said. It sounds, at best, at BEST, like the SWAT is covering its hineys and told lies to everyone involved, including the sheriff who believed them until some embarrassing contradictions and lack of evidence turned up. At worst, there is wink and nod from the sheriff too.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Dupnik needs kicked out of there, like, yesterday. This is in the middle of a well known drug corridor, and the last thing they need is for law enforcement credibility to be going down the toilet.

[sand88]

This is jackboot insanity, nothing less. This is what generations of American died fighting to prevent happening here.

This Marine was murdered by these jackboot thugs. This Marine served in Iraq to help protect our Freedoms, only to be gunned down in cold blood by these thugs.

Most SWAT teams relish the thought of acting like RAMBO. These SWAT thugs live to carry out violence so they can get their high. Damn them all.

SWAT teams are an affront to the ideals of our Republic. Our Founders would be appalled at the insane lurch towards a police state.

I cringe every time I see on TV these animals with SWAT on their uniforms. It makes me feel as those I am in a Police State. I doubt very few SWAT thugs think much of our Constitution.

[Ken H]

I'm assuming (yeah, I know) there are tapes of the raid.

Has anyone asked PCSD about that?

[Tainan]

Pima County ping

[Tainan]

They came back and no warrant searched two (2) additional houses...unannounced:

Today, KGUN9 also learned SWAT (searched two of) Guerena's neighbor's house. "When I came home, the whole house was searched. All the doors were open. And, (our house) was searched through; it was like an invasion of privacy," said Carissa Franco.

SWAT says it was concerned about a hole in the Franco's home, worried someone else could've been wounded. So, it said it did what they needed to get inside.

Pima County released a statement about that breach, saying in part, "The Regional SWAT Team made entry into two additional residences very soon after the deadly force encounter. This was done in order to ensure that there were no injured persons in those residences as a result of the shooting. These entries were made without warrants due to the exigency of the circumstances. No one was home at either residence when entry was made.

They were..."worried" about the neighbors....suuuuuuuurrrreeee.

[TigersEye]

In a previous article about this the police claim they also raided two other houses in the neighborhood as part of a "drug conspiracy" case. It was reported that they found a "large" sum of money in one of those houses and no mention at all of what they found at the other.

I'd like to know how much cash is too much cash to keep at home. Hmmm? Does gold and silver qualify as suspicious as well and how much of that can a citizen have in their home? And is that all they need to make the drug conspiracy charge? No drugs necessary?

[jonascord]

I approve of this.

When the Feds go broke, and all their protection collapses, I want these guys to know why.

When they are standing at the edge of a ditch, and they feel a gun barrel against their heads, I want them to remember how they got off, dressed in black, 'roiding out while they smashed thru the wrong door and butchered some "civilian" and walked away grinning.

There WILL be a Reckoning. "I Vas Followink Orders!" ain't gonna cut it.

[NoLibZone]

Do not help or cooperate with Sheriff Dupnik or ANY of his Deputies.

Union POS Scum.

[HiTech RedNeck]

And then they didn’t bother to lock the doors back up? Just walked away and left them unguarded?

If I was king, heads would roll.

[Brad from Tennessee]

Apparently the SWAT team blocked paramedics from aiding the victim until he bled to death.

http://www.kgun9.com/story/14629829/medical-care-blocked-for-man-killed-by-swat

[Brad from Tennessee]

“. . .Deputies confirmed that Guerena’s safety was still on when his gun was recovered. Also, officials said that reports that some SWAT officers’ shields were riddled with bullets are also untrue.”

http://www.kgun9.com/story/14621212/marine-killed-by-swat-was-acting-in-defense-says-family