This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: The Guerena Killing

  • The Dupnik Recall and The Guerena Killing

    Sheriff Dupnik’s irresponsible comments following the massacre in Tucson on January 8th and his department’s apparent prior mishandling of contacts with shooter Jared Loughner spawned a recall effort in Pima County. However, the effort to recall Dupnik was never properly organized and the different groups promoting it began to squabble among each other late in April. With the recall effort floundering and unlikely to garner the necessary signatures before the deadline, Dupnik felt confident enough to announce his intention to run for reelection in 2012 on May 3rd. Two days later, Cpl. Guerena was gunned down in his home by Pima County SWAT (which on a side note appears to be nothing more than a mish-mash of officers from different local units, as Jonn points out). Of course initially, Pima County Sheriff’s Office said that Guerena fired at officers so the story didn’t get much attention until a week later when Pima County changed its story for the first of many times. By that time (around May 11th and 12th), leftist blogs in Tucson were celebrating the collapse of the recall effort which was now officially dead.

    I doubt that had more details come out about the shooting that the recall effort would have turned around quickly enough to meet its deadlines and get enough signatures. However, there has been a political angle to this story from the beginning and I have documented in almost all my posts on this matter the hypocrisy of the leftist establishment in Arizona in ignoring this story. There was likely some in the Democratic establishment whom felt that a story like this could alienate Dupnik from Latino voters, whom the Democrats have been trying to scare into voting for them by pretty much lying about SB1070 and other immigration enforcement efforts.

    This is an unfortunate by-product of politicized law enforcement in the state of Arizona and needs to change not only in Pima County but the rest of the state as well.

  • Police Union Spokesmen Contradicts Pima County Sheriff Spokesmen While Trying To Defend Incompetent SWAT Team

    First off, still no word back about a support fund for the family. OldSoldier54 has been helping me out on this along with several other people and we haven’t gotten a straight answer back from either the attorney or a woman who had claimed to setup a fund with Bank of America to help Guerena family.  I also haven’t gotten a response back from some of Guerena’s Marine buddies either. I think Vanessa Guerena is with family in Mexico and I don’t blame her. Tucson at its best isn’t much different than Mexico at its worst.

    Anyways, today a spokesman/lawyer for a police union (AZCOPS) that represents Pima County Sheriff’s deputies came out to defend the SWAT team that killed Cpl Guerena. He claimed he came forward because of the “reckless statements made by the attorney for these folks [the Guerenas].” He then preceded to make a reckless statement himself:

    Storie said officers found what they were looking for, including weapons, body armor and a partial police uniform.

    However, this is what the Pima County Sheriff’s spokesman said earlier this week about what they found at the four houses they searched (but not Cpl Guerena’s):

    O’Connor:  “We did find things that we were asking for in that.  It may have been drug ledgers, narcotics paraphernalia, any other connecting material between the residences.  Those things were found, in addition to a large sum of money.  Somewhat larger that what you would expect to find in anyone’s home.”

    Waldman:  “Can you say if that was the residence where the shooting happened?”

    O’Connor:  “No, it was one of the four, but it was not that residence.”

    Waldman:  “In that specific residence, did you find anything related to drugs, drug money, in that specific residence.”

    O’Connor:  “We found information that was pertinent to this drug conspiracy case, yes.  I’m not going to go into details on what those things were.  But it was connecting material to the drug conspiracy.”

    There is no mention of other weapons (besides the AR-15 that Guerena had), body armor, or police uniforms being found in any of the houses that were searched in the rest of the transcript for that particular interview.

    The lawyer for the Guerena family, Christopher Scileppi, stated this in response to Storie’s rant:

    “All, Mr. Storie, their lawyer, did today was attempt to discredit a Marine who served two tours abroad, and put out statements unsupported by facts. What the family wishes, what we wish, is for the Pima County Sheriff’s office, (Pima County Sheriff) Dupnik, Storie to release facts,” Scileppi said.

    “From what I understand, Mr. Storie also said that nothing that was found in that house was illegal for any purpose, whether it be the vests, whether it be the weapons. That’s my understanding. So they’re attempting to put together a bunch of different facts to discredit and defame Mr. Guerena.”

    There is a lot going on with these conflicting statements so I am going to put my response in list format to make it easier to follow. Please bear with me.

    1. Obviously, Lt. O’Connor, Sheriff Dumbass, and the rest of the Pima County Sheriff’s Office have changed the story about what happened at Cpl Guerena’s house multiple times and have now refused to release anymore information about the shooting. Now this guy Storie inserts himself into the picture and he has his own version of events that contradicts both the Sheriff and the Guerena family. He claims to have “personally” spoken with members of the SWAT team that participated in the raid. So either a.) he is completely full of shit and is pulling stuff out of his ass b.) he is being used by the Sheriff’s department as back channel spokesman to discredit Guerena, his family, and his lawyer or c.) he is being used by the members of the SWAT team to give them cover. I am thinking he is just full of shit, but the other two possibilities are realistic as well.

    2. Lets assume for a second that the Pima County Sheriff’s Office is telling the truth (haha yeah right) when they say they don’t want to release anymore information because it might compromise an ongoing investigation. Well this Storie jackass, who is supposed to be defending Pima County SWAT, just did that. If he really was acting in the interests of the SWAT team members, why would he want to compromise an investigation which could potentially bolster the case of these SWAT deputies? Again, more evidence that this whole “drug conspiracy” nonsense is extremely flimsy or complete bullshit at this point.

    3. The lawyer for the Guerena family is right: this was nothing more than an attempt to defame Guerena.

    4. Even if Cpl. Guerena was Tucson’s version of Pablo Escobar, this SWAT team is still totally unprofessional and incompetent.

    The shitshow continues. Oh yeah…and still not a peep from the vocal progressive community in Tucson about this. Still waiting you hypocrites.

  • More Guerena Updates

    Reason has written about the story. Word is spreading. Hopefully, FOX picks it up soon.

    I am checking out a memorial fund that OldSoldier54 found in the comments section for one of the new stories in the Tucson media. I will post info as soon I can verify it.

  • What if Cpl. Guerena Was Killed In Maricopa County?

    First of all, I am proud to see TAH readers posting on other blogs about Cpl Guerena’s killing and helping to get the word out about what happened in Tucson. I am glad that the MilBlog community has taken the lead in promoting this story when so many other media outlets have ignored it (more on that in a second). Pajamas Media has a post up about it today, discussing it in the context of the Indiana Supreme Court’s controversial recent decision about illegal entries into private homes by the police. Some of you posted this story about Cpl. Guerena’s neighbors contradicting SWAT’s story in the comments section on mine and Jonn’s original posts about this subject, but if you haven’t read it please do.

    In regards to helping out the Guerena family, I contacted the office of the attorney that is representing the family about information in regards to where people who wish to help the family can send donations, food, etc. The attorney was in court all day Friday and his secretary told me they would get back to me this next week. I would ask any of our Tucson ninjas to keep an eye out for any info about donations or any forms of assistance to the family.

    In my original post, I pointed out hypocrisy of the leftist media and mainstream in Arizona in ignoring this story. As of today, the major left-wing blogs and the usual leftist thugs in the state haven’t uttered a peep about the killing of Cpl. Guerena. Most of them are intently focused on protecting the jobs of their commie friends in Tucson’s Mexican-American Studies Program. However, without a doubt, had this occurred in Maricopa County, where the much despised (and not without justification) Sheriff Joe Arpaio is the top law enforcement official and where a pro-SB1070 Republican is county attorney, you would have had demonstrations on a scale that would probably rival what recently took place in Wisconsin. Michael Moore would probably fly in and stand in front of the capitol with Arizona’s most prominent loony progressives and make some statement condemning Arizona as a “mecca of hate”. Anderson Cooper would probably host his show her for a week or two and pretend to be unbiased in his reporting. Similar things happened when SB1070 past last year but this could have been the smoking gun for the open borders crow- proof that Arizona is just out to get brown people…..if only it would have occurred in Maricopa County. But it didn’t. It occurred in a supposedly tolerant, diverse, and accepting county that is different from us bigots up in Maricopa. Shit, they even want to secede from the rest of Arizona and form their own “progressive” state.  The Sheriff running the show down there isn’t the much reviled Sheriff Joe but liberal hero Sheriff Dupnik.

    Accordingly, Cpl. Guerena’s story is increasingly looking like it is going to be ignored by the mainstream media. And that, in it of itself, is a crime.

  • My Thoughts On The Marine Killed By Pima County SWAT

    Jonn and many of our readers have already discussed this but I am going to add my two cents.

    I am admittedly very upset and disturbed by this story for a number of reasons. I understand that all the facts in the case have not been forthcoming but that is mostly because the Pima County Sheriff’s Office, which as Strike FO pointed out is run by the illustrious Sheriff Dupnik, is trying to cover their ass. Additionally, they are repeatedly changing their story, which should tell everyone following this  hat Pima County SWAT knows they have screwed up.

    With the facts that are available, I want to make the following the points:

    First and foremost this RAID SHOULD HAVE NEVER HAPPENED. PERIOD. Less than an hour of basic police intelligence work would have shown that Jose Guerena works at a mine that is in an area that is not as densely populated as a residential area.  Additionally, that would have shown that Guerena had no prior criminal record, was an honorably discharged Marine, and had a family that lived with him.  By choosing to raid the house, not only did Pima SWAT put civilians in danger by hitting Guerena’s house in the manner that they did, but they also put themselves in danger by choosing to conduct the raid at Guerena’s home. Lets assume for a second that Guerena was a bad guy who was involved in the drug trade. Despite the fact that he was an air winger, he probably had at least some combat-related training, especially if he deployed to Iraq twice. I know that he was stationed in Yuma and they have Marines there that train air wingers before they deploy in basic combat tactics, including basic CQB and MOUT tactics. He would have had at least a very basic understanding about how to setup a defensive position inside a building. So, with that possibility in mind, Pima SWAT still chose to hit the house (in daylight too), even though there were clearly other options available to them, mainly the option to detain him at work or when he was driving to and from work. This was extremely poor mission planning on the part of the Pima County SWAT team.

    Secondly, based on the information that has been released by Pima County, this is without a doubt a seriously dicked up SWAT Team. I’ve already laid out how I think they did a piss poor job of planning this mission, so now lets look at how the raid actually played out. First off, Pima County SWAT says they banged on the door for fifteen seconds and had the sirens and lights on their vehicles on. The wife of Jose Guerena claims they didn’t. I am inclined to believe the wife right now since she seems to be the only one who has kept her story straight, but this point is debatable so I am not going to focus too much on this. According to the SWAT team, as soon as they entered the house they see Guerena crouched with an AR-15 pointed at them. At that moment the SWAT team opens fire, with five shooters firing 71 shots in seven seconds. Thats two rounds every second per shooter. I don’t know what kind of weapons they were using but a standard M4 or MP5 can spit out rounds faster on full auto so I think they were just slapping the trigger on semi or maybe one shooter had a weapon on burst. Either way, that is a complete lack of fire discipline. Lets assume again that Guerena was a bad guy and his wife was involved with the drug trade with him (again there is NO EVIDENCE OF THIS THUS FAR, but I am just using  hypotheticals here). With all five shooters focused on Guerena, nobody else was covering the other sectors of the room or moving to clear the rest of the house (which they probably shouldn’t have done if they only went in with five shooters anyways). That would have left an opportunity for someone to come out and start shooting at the SWAT team, potentially wounding or killing some or all of the SWAT team during the raid. Then there is this little tidbit from an AZ Daily Star Article:

    A deputy’s bullet struck the side of the doorway, causing chips of wood to fall on his shield. That prompted some members of the team to think the deputy had been shot, O’Connor said.

    One of two things happened there. Either the deputies went in the door spraying and praying and a round struck the door or one of the deputies had a negligent discharge upon entry through the doorway and the round hit the door frame. Either way, it didn’t justify the SWAT team losing their cool and forgetting all tactical sense. Whatever happened it leads to the question of what the fuck kind of training these keystone cops went through before they went on this raid. They clearly were not prepared or properly trained to execute this mission.

    Uncle Jimbo did a series last year on how SWAT raids like this shouldn’t be happening. I encourage you to read it.

    Also one finally thing. Cpl. Guerena was a Latino killed by the police under questionable circumstances in the “mecca of hate”, Arizona. Riots have erupted over less than this. But what has been the reaction from all the lefty blogs in Arizona, and particularly Tucson? Crickets, Crickets, Crickets, and Crickets. This prominent left-wing blog’s top post actually celebrates the fact that the Dupnik recall failed. Does it surprise anyone? A gun-owning, combat veteran with no criminal record killed by members of a left-wing Sheriff’s office? Oh, but it doesn’t fit the narrative! Fuck them. Fuck them all. I wish it was one of them in the house instead of Cpl Guerena. Semper Fi Brother.

    Jonn added; An hour and twelve minutes the ambulance sat outside the home waiting for clearance from the police. An hour and 12 minutes until word came that Cpl Guerena was dead.

    You’d think the neighbor would have mentioned the sirens;

  • Pima County Sheriff Deputies kill Marine

    This details of this story are changing as we speak, so I’m withholding judgement on anyone. But anyway former 26-year-old Marine Jose Guerena was woken by his wife Vanessa when she saw the shadow of a man with a gun in her window. Jose sent her and her their son to a closet to hide and he grabbed his AR-15 rifle and headed to the front door.

    Vanessa claims she didn’t hear sirens or shouts from the deputies identifying themselves, but when they broke down the door, they found Jose in a firing stance. One deputy fired and hit the door frame spraying wood chips over the other officers who then thought they were being fired at, so they opened fire with 71 rounds killing Jose. The officers claim that Jose was killed instantly while his wife claims he was still breathing when officers dragged her from the house.

    Officers initially claimed that Jose Guerena fired first and they’ve since recanted that statement saying he hadn’t fired at all. That there was a round in the chamber, but that the weapon was on “safe”.

    The officers were serving a search warrant. Rumors are that they had the wrong address. Guerena had a few traffic tickets, but no criminal record by all accounts.

    He served two tours in Iraq;

    Guerena was a Tucson native and Flowing Wells High School graduate. He joined the U.S. Marines in 2002. He served two tours in Iraq in 2003 and 2005 as part of the Yuma-based MWSS-173 under direct supervision of Master Sgt. Leo Verdugo.

    Verdugo was with Guerena’s family Tuesday afternoon. He gave them a Marine Corps jacket and gloves to use at Guerena’s burial.

    “He was an excellent Marine, with a bright future ahead of him,” Verdugo said.

    Lew Rockwell is on the case, so i don’t know what to think.

    If anyone in the Tucson area knows more details, please fill us in.

    Thanks to StrikeFO for the link.