Category: The Guerena Killing

The Arizona Star reports that Jose Guerena’s older brother was the target of the investigation that resulted in Jose’s death at the hands of an over-eager SWAT raid last month;

Jose Guerena’s contact with law enforcement began in late 2009 when he was a passenger in a vehicle carrying large, commercial- sized rolls of plastic wrap that deputies believed was used to wrap large loads of drugs, but no drugs were found inside, the document said. That same year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents investigating a narcotics case saw two men driving a loaded car to a residence where they found more than 1,000 pounds of marijuana. The two men were followed after they dropped off the marijuana at a house. Jose Guerena was at the house, but he was not arrested in connection with the case. Two men are awaiting sentencing in that case.

The new reports focus more on Guerena’s older brother, Alejandro.

In January 2009, a deputy who had stopped a vehicle driven by Alejandro Guerena found a semiautomatic gun and several thousand dollars in cash, court documents show. He was found guilty of carrying a concealed weapon.

A large roll of plastic wrap, huh? Towards the end of the article, there’s a possible explanation for the plastic;

The third home, owned by Jose Guerena’s mother, had most of the furniture wrapped in plastic, documents show….

If being in possession of large rolls of plastic makes you a drug dealer, maybe they should make large rolls of plastic illegal. Of course, they’ll probably have to fight the little-old-lady lobby.

And you know, even I’ve been at parties when some drugs showed up. Does that make me a drug dealer. Granted, I usually left at the first whiff of pot, but that’s me.

And, oh, if you have wet weather gear, you’re probably a drug-dealer;

Sheriff’s Department officials said earlier this week that high-end military gear and advanced weather-protective clothing were found inside a storage locker two weeks after the shooting. The locker, they said, was rented to Bertha Guerena, Jose Guerena’s mother. Records obtained Thursday show that detectives found a U.S. Marines sleeping bag and Gore-Tex coveralls. Guerena was a former Marine who served in Iraq, military records show.

Whoa! One of those cop-killer sleeping bag and Gore-Tex drawers? Dude definitely deserve to die for possession of those dangerous items. I mean, why would a Marine need something to keep him dry if it wasn’t a means to smuggle drugs?

OldSoldier54 went to the memorial and visited the crime scene last weekend and sent us these pictures. First is the murdered door frame;
(more…)

That is what Sheriff Dupnik said today in regards to the murder of Cpl. Guerena. I don’t think I need to tell anyone that this is complete nonsense.

Also, the SWAT team is going to be investigated by a “shooting board” made up of the SWAT team’s fellow officers from their own departments. Gee, I wonder if they are going to be impartial. Recently, up here in Maricopa County, when it became clear that some of Sheriff Joe’s deputies weren’t on the up and up, an investigation was conducted by a neighboring Sheriff’s department (who, despite being politically very similar to Sheriff Joe, found the MCSO to be pretty rotten). The same thing needs to happen in Pima County. But of course, don’t expect the media in Arizona to call for this.

OldSoldier54 went to a memorial for Cpl. Guerena in Tucson on memorial day. He sent some pictures and a firsthand account which I will post about later tonight or tomorrow.

Well, the media farted around long enough with the story that those Ron Paul Oathkeeper fucks got involved. Even Paulian staffer Stuart Rhodes was at the OKer’s memorial for Jose Guerena;

Supporters Rally for Iraq War Veteran Killed by SWAT Team: MyFoxPHOENIX.com

MikeM at Confederate Yankee does an excellent job of summarizing the events and the issues involved in the murder.

Beat and Release summarizes the audio from SWAT raid. Beat and Release, also includes some links to local media. Apparently, out of the 71 rounds that the Swat mob fired, only 20 or so hit Guerena – not surprising if you watch the video of the arcade-style shooting. B&R concludes;

Jose was targeted in this investigation and killed because of his DNA, not because he did anything illegal.

Sounds about right. And I wonder if the raid was scheduled for Cinco de Mayo for a reason.

ADDED: Charles sends us a link to the Danger Room‘s David Axe’s analysis of the raid.

Nearly a month after Guerena’s killing, it’s still unclear whether the Marine had any ties to a cartel. But the absence of clear evidence means we must assume he was innocent. It’s equally unclear, at least to outsiders, precisely how the shooting went down and who’s to blame.

This is starting to become a big story. I’m trying to stay on top of it as much as I can. Here are some new updates and some analysis from other commentators that I think are worthwhile.

Over at the Daily Caller, Brent Hatley wrote a column about Keith Olbermann’s hypocrisy regarding this story. From the beginning we at TAH have pointed out that the left-wing media in this country has been silent on this matter, when in the past they have jumped the gun on other incidents like this with other law enforcement organizations. If they do report the story, they will usually leave out Dupnik’s name.  I am glad that people are starting to recognize that the left-wing media in Arizona (and now nationally) is trying to cover for Dupnik.

In trying to cover for Dupnik, some media outlets are going to try and smear Guerena. We have heard ridiculous stories about law enforcement uniforms being found at his house, which turned out to be a Border Patrol cap that you can buy almost anywhere in Arizona. Then there was the nonsense about the picture of the patron saint of drug dealers in the house, which seems to be a bunch of bullshit as well. Then there is crap likes this which has appeared on the website for my local paper, the Arizona Republic:

Among the items seized at the four homes was a silver-plated 0.38-caliber handgun, or a “Super 38,” a popular status weapon among Mexican traffickers.

Really? The idiot who wrote that (and the Arizona Republic has a lot of idiots working for it)  has watched too many movies about Mexican drug dealers. I guess when its okay to use racial stereotypes (and thats what the above statement is ladies and gentlemen) when we are talking about a veteran and gun owner, but not your average minority.

But the fact remains: NOTHING ILLEGAL WAS FOUND IN JOSE GUERENA’S HOUSE. PERIOD. END OF STORY. Even the Sheriff’s office admits that and the idiot attorney who is representing the SWAT team admits that as well. All this talk about the guns, body armor, and uniforms are just a smear and nothing else.

Radley Balko, who just left Reason.com for the Huffington Post (ugh I know but at least somone is uttering Dupnik’s name over there now) has some new info on the story and has some interesting information up about  Mike Storie. Apparently, Storie has been going around claiming that no law enforcement officer that has been his client has been convicted of a crime, but thats bullshit, just like everything else he says. One of his clients, a Nogales police officer, was prosecuted by the state of Arizona and was found guilty of sexual assault. Additionally, as suspected, Dupnik doesn’t have a problem with Storie running his mouth and is probably giving him orders behind the scenes.

Finally, there is a bank account setup through Bank of America where you can make monetary donations to a memorial fund for Jose Guerena’s family. The acct number is: #457022390833 I have checked it out along with OldSoldier54 and it appears to be legit (it was setup by one of his cousins, who both OS and I been in contact with). Here are the instructions from OldSoldier54:

Made a deposit this morning at local BoA branch. The name is : Jose Guerena Memorial Acct, fill in your own address, the number you gave me, and use the pink “Out of State” deposit form for those of us outside of Arizona. They said if you have a BoA account, you can do this online using the account number on the “inside” transfer page.

Five to ten bucks from a couple dozen TAH readers will go a long way.

Jonn added: Beat and Release does an excellent job of summarizing the statement of SWAT supervisor Sgt. Krygier.

Well ladies and gentlemen I just got back from a 50 hour bender in Las Vegas and pretty much as soon as I touched down in Phoenix, Pima County Sheriff’s Office released video and documents pertaining to the botched raid that killed Cpl. Guerena. Mike Storie, the asshat who is doing a piss poor job of representing the SWAT officers involved in the raid, is claiming that:

“Yeah, you watch the video and clearly you hear sirens, you see them (SWAT) approach, you see them knock and announce several times. Clearly, anyone in the area will know police were there,” explained SWAT lawyer Mike Storie.”

Well, lets take a look at the video:

First of all, you can clearly see that SWAT did not roll into the neighborhood with sirens blazing. They only run the sirens after they pull in front of the house and first for only a few seconds and the for about six to eight more seconds. They did not run the siren for more than ten seconds and by turning it on and off it gave it the sound of a car alarm, which as everybody knows, is a common sound in a neighborhood or apartment complex. So I doubt everybody knew the police were there.

Also, they were playing music on their Bearcat’s radio as they pulled up. I have a problem with this for a couple of reasons and I know some of you are probably are going to disagree with me (and probably a few you even played music in guntrucks during raids) but hear me out. First of all, it is a distraction. You get into the song and lose focus on what you are supposed to be doing. Secondly, it can screw with your ability to hear your comms. I wore those earpieces that the SWAT team for about two years at my first duty station and they do not filter out background noise. Finally, those vehicles are extremely loud and usually (but not always) they aren’t soundproofed. Having music playing makes it even more difficult for the team to hear voice commands. To me, this is just another example of how unprofessional this team was.

Once they arrive at the house they do clearly announce themselves but as far as I can see, a deputy only lightly bangs on the door. After that the breach team breaks open the door and then the entry team moves up to the door way. At this point, one of the deputies (looks like the one on the far left) has a negligent discharge and the rest of team opens up. As we all knew, they crowded the doorway (fatal front) but in what appears to contradict some earlier statements it looks like the guy with the shield fell down after a lull in the shooting, not as soon as the first officer had a negligent discharge.

However, the most disturbing part of the video to me involves the breach team. After the shooting starts, one of the breachers appears to run up to the door, draw his pistol, brace himself against a member of the entry team, and fire his pistol one-handed into house. What kind of Rambo-shit was that? Also, it appears multiple members of the team were dry after they shot Guerena, which would have made them unable to deal with any other shooters in the house, especially in the fatal front.

Overall, this does not make the SWAT look any better. Additionally, none of the documents released pertain to Guerena’s allegeded criminal connections and Mike Storie keeps pushing the “home invasion crew” story, which as I have pointed out before, contradicts earlier statements from PCSO.

Others here have written more about this case,  but I stumbled across this at Pajamas Media:  dated today.  One paragraph struck me as particularly damning if true?

Perhaps Dupnik’s officers assumed every Hispanic accused of being a drug dealer really was one, and perhaps they assumed that the tenant of a home protecting his loved ones must be a bloodthirsty cartel member waiting in ambush. Is that why they gunned down a tired, hard-working father sleeping off a night shift at the local copper mine? A Marine veteran of Iraq that had the discipline not to fire — a discipline that a trigger-happy SWAT team which has now killed three men in less than a year cannot itself exercise?

Emphasis added by me.

TAH has discussed the lack of fire discipline, and the other fancy dancing various spin doctors are doing… but I’d missed the track record. YMMV

Added by Jonn: Frankly Opinionated sends this map from the Cato Institute of military-style raids by police. there are an awful lot of red and grey markers;

I’m gratified that our harping on this case is finally getting a certain measure of media attention. As Ponsdorf mentioned the other day, the foreign press is picking up on it. Forbes finally noticed it.

I’m also grateful that the Huffington Post has finally mentioned it in a well-written piece by James Peron. The only fault that I can find with it, is that they don’t name Sheriff Clarence Dupnik as the main culprit for concealing from the public critical information so we can judge for ourselves the culpability in the case.

In fact, if you search the page for “Dupnik” you’ll see that his name doesn’t occur until a commenter mentions him, and it appears that one comment which that commenter made was deleted by HuffPo;

Of course, that’s no real surprise when HuffPo readers lined up behind DUpnik when he took shots at the Right after the Tucson shooting. A quick search of HuffPo turns up overwhelming support Dupnik by authors as well as commenters – but they can’t say a cross word about him when he murders a veteran who still appears to be completely innocent.

And there’s no one asking why a one hour stay and seven second shoot out is taking more than three weeks to investigate. The Arizona Star reports that DUpnik may never release documents related to the murder of Corporal Guerena;

Dupnik said opening up those documents would put someone’s life at risk. An informant? Presumably, but he wouldn’t say.

“I don’t know when they are going to be unsealed, if ever,” he said. “Those are the real sensitive parts of why we are having difficulty with trying to put information out publicly – because we don’t want to get somebody killed.”

Too late, dipshit.

By the way, we’re having trouble finding a legitimate way to get money to Corporal Guerena’s family. If you know or can find a way, please let us know through the contact options at the top of the page.

So Mike Storie, the idiot attorney that is representing the SWAT team that killed Cpl. Guerena, is now pushing this story that Guerena was “linked” to a home invasion outfit.  His evidence to support this theory is that body armor, a “partial” police uniform (which could simply be a left over khaki shirt from his Marine Corps days), and get this, a PICTURE of a dead drug dealer, were supposedly found in the room. I say “supposedly” because this contradicts earlier statements by the Pima County Sheriff’s Office that this raid was related to drug charges and that none of these items were found in any of the houses that were searched. However, based on Pima County’s history with changing their story and not getting the facts right, it is possible that these items were find in the home, along with the body of Jimmy Hoffa and the Holy Grail. Anything is possible.

What I find odd though is that even though Storie keeps repeating that body armor and other “dangerous” items were found, he has also admitted more than once that these items were not illegal and if the SWAT team would have made a proper entry into the home that Guerena probably wouldn’t have been arrested. Additionally, this version of events inevitably leads to a question we have asking here at TAH for the last couple of weeks: Why do the raid in the first place? Assuming Guerena had all this stuff at his house and Guerena was Tucson’s Pablo Escobar, wouldn’t it have been better to pick him up at work, where he likely lacked weapons and body armor? Or maybe a preplanned traffic stop near the mine and out of residential areas? Additionally, by admitting none of this is illegal, it shows that by saying all this stuff was found, all Storie is trying to do is smear Guerena and his family.

Then there is the issue of the surveillance car that was supposedly during pre-raid reconnaissance on the house. Storie claims  that they were forced to abort after someone ran the license plate and he claimed someone in the neighborhood was doing “counter-surveillance” on law enforcement. Well according to the AZ Daily Star:

Under the Federal Privacy Act, the MVD in Arizona cannot release information on a license plate to anyone other than to law enforcement.

So that part of the story is probably complete bullshit or, even worse for the SWAT team, they were running multiple, uncoordinated surveillance teams on the house. Wow, these guys look stupider every day.

This SWAT team, even though they by all accounts appear incompetent, unprofessional, and totally unqualified for their jobs, deserves a thorough investigation and a fair trial with a professional and competent legal defense team. Based on his statements up to this point, Mike Storie is neither competent nor professional and if he really wants to help these deputies out, he should shut his mouth and go away.