May 25, 2011
Seventy-One Shots: The Death of Jose Guereña
A hard-working Marine veteran of Iraq was gunned down in his own home by a Pima County AZ SWAT team that originally claimed he fired and hit their men during a no-knock raid. Evidence shows, however, the combat veteran never too his safety off, and family members want to know why the cops kept an ambulance crew from the victim for more than an hour.
Another case of murder with a badge? Decide for yourself after reading my latest article at Pajamas Media.
Update: Jonn Lilyea of This Ain't Hell has been on this story from the beginning, and notes via email that this wasn't even a legitimate SWAT team, but instead a gaggle of officers "cobbled together from four LE agencies."
This was gross incompetence leading to the shooting of a good man, followed by the purposeful obstruction of potentially live-saving medical care, and an obvious cover-up and smear campaign in the process of going south.
I'm not ready to charge the officers in this shooting with murder, but they are at the very least candidates for some sort of variant of a "manslaughter with depraved indifference" charge that should lead to the end of their law enforcement careers.
A distinguished veteran died at the hands of overzealous cops who insist on smearing his reputation after gunning him down. This should never happen, much less become so commonplace.
CY,
As usual, great article. New civility = 71 rounds!
Tarheel Repub Out!
Posted by: Tarheel Repub at May 25, 2011 12:09 PMThis is exactly the sort of new professionalism that the SCOTUS shredded the 4th amendment in favor of.
Posted by: Phelps at May 25, 2011 02:38 PMive been arguing with the rank & file who have come out four square in support of the officers in this situation over at gateway pundit.
its very disturbing just how militarized the cops are becoming and dont seem to have a problem with it.
I repeatedly stated that the citizenry are not the "enemy" and many ways, smarter ways
ps, again why do you have a space for the ur of someones blog if its going to deny it as questionable. your filter sucks.
Posted by: rumcrook at May 25, 2011 05:48 PMthat should have ended,
many ways, smarter ways could have been found to deal with these situations other than military like swat actions....
Posted by: rumcrook at May 25, 2011 05:50 PMAs long as there are no negative consequences for the cops, they will continue to treat civilians in this manner.
And no, suing the crap out of the department is not a negative consequence. The trigger-pulling murderers need to be punished severely. Pour encourager les autres.
I used to respect cops. Not anymore.
Posted by: butch at May 25, 2011 08:16 PMnot "murder" for the 71 shots. Tat would be the manslaughter charge.
but, on the other hand, the 1:14 hold before medical attention. That IS showing intent.
Butch:
Faire ne vous l'obtenez pas, son fusil noir fait votre "perfectionne le monde" sans rapport.
That being said, should we not wait until the investigation is completed and maybe even a trial before the "trigger-pulling murderers" get their 'Breaker Morant' moment?
Posted by: Buck Turgidson at May 26, 2011 12:16 PMHe was a bad little serf. Deigning to even show the merest hint of a spine. A man's home is just another doghouse anymore. Next they will take away our cars and jobs, and we'll be really, really grateful for the mush and gruel at the communiteria down the street. If there is any left for us after the high-n-mighty eat...
Revolution, anyone? No, I would never suggest such a thing. Go away, NSA/CIA/FBI. I'm a compliant little serf.
Posted by: Bill Johnson at May 26, 2011 03:49 PMCobbled together? So joint operations are now the definition of incompetence?
This is just another example of exageration on the issue.
The video of the raid has just been released. All the officers at the door were with the same agency, the local SO.
Before knocking they activated the sirens of the police vehicles in the driveway of the target house.
They knocked and announced.
They took out the door, then waited briefly before entering.
They saw someone with a gun and fired.
Case closed.
Hint, when you hear sirens in your driveway, that means the police, not a home invasion.
Here is the video:
http://www.mediaite.com/online/shocking-video-shows-swat-team-gunning-down-iraq-war-veteran/
You know, law enforcement does not have to wait for someone with a gun to fire. They can fire first.
Like Eric Scott, Jose Guerna is not Rosa Parks. And I think that some interesting evidence of drug dealing will soon be released.
Posted by: Federale at May 27, 2011 01:10 PMFederale, did you even watch the video?
Pardon my French, but it's a clusterf*ck, and actually makes the PCSD look worse. It also confirms they were lying... even worse than we thought they were before.
Posted by: Confederate Yankee at May 27, 2011 04:10 PMIf you really want to investigate a truly bad shooting, My gut feeling is that this is one to make the Erik Scott shooting look like professional police work at its finest. Very little about this case passes the smell test, and the Pima County Sheriff's Office has been even more conspicuous in its attempt to stifle anything that might reflect badly on the department from getting into the news than Las Vegas Metro. The whole thing has been a poorly planned goat-roping from the start and the coverup is so blatant as to be laughable. Hell, the officers weren't even "routinely suspended".
Posted by: Montie at May 27, 2011 05:22 PMYes, I did. Yeah, they did not stack like a a TV show, but just because they did not move like a perfectly does not mean anything.
All the video shows is what happened outside. It does not show the man pointing a rifle at them. It appears that people are commenting on things they don't know anything about. No one but the officers saw what was pointed at them. And, no, cops don't have to wait for the bad guy to shot them first, they can shoot first.
And since they sounded the sirens, then Guerna was acting either very stupidly or defending his stash.
Posted by: Federale at May 30, 2011 07:55 PM
