Marine shot at 70+ times while in his own home at Arizona and killed... by the police

[Ignition]

http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/05/27/...ex.html?hpt=T1



Report: Marine never fired on SWAT officers who fatally shot him

By Chuck Conder, CNN
May 27, 2011 1:29 p.m. EDT


STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Deputies fire more than 70 shots during a drug raid near Tucson
• Jose Guerena is hit more than 20 times
• He never took his weapons off safety, report says
• Officers remain on active duty; no legal action has been taken

Tucson, Arizona (CNN) -- A U.S. Marine who died in a flurry of bullets during a drug raid near Tucson never fired on the SWAT team that stormed his house, a report by the Pima County Sheriff's Department shows.
The revelation was contained in an internal investigation released by the department Thursday.
Jose Guerena died May 5 after a SWAT team descended on his home in a Tucson suburb with a search warrant. His home was one of four believed to be associated with a drug smuggling operation in the area.
A video released Thursday by the sheriff's department shows the uniformed SWAT team pulling up outside his house, sounding their sirens, banging on the front door -- before kicking it in -- and opening fire shortly after entering the home.

Watch video on CNN affiliate KGUN9
Officers fired more than 70 shots, the investigation showed. Deputies said they opened fire after Guerena, 26, gestured at them with an AR-15 -- a semiautomatic rifle.
Some of the officers said they believed that Guerena fired on them, but the investigation showed that no shots were fired from the weapon and it was never taken off the safety position.
Initial news reports indicated that he had been struck by more than 60 bullets. However, CNN has seen an initial report from the medical examiner that details 22 bullet wounds.
A lawyer representing the deputies defended their actions.
"They absolutely responded how they were trained. They responded within Arizona laws, within the law throughout the nation," attorney Mike Storie said.
"If you are faced with that type of deadly threat, you're allowed to respond."
Guerena served in Iraq and was discharged from the Marines five years ago. He was working for a mining company in the Tucson area.
But authorities allege he also was involved in drug smuggling, strong-armed robberies and human smuggling.
A search of the home after the shooting revealed nothing illegal, although officers found weapons and body armor.
The five deputies involved in the shooting remain on active duty. No criminal charges have been filed and no disciplinary action taken.
The findings of the investigation are detailed in a five-inch thick report, including a 60-page statement from Guerena's wife, Vanessa, who was in the home at the time of the shooting along with a young son.
In addition to the video, the sheriff's department also released audio of Guerena calling 911 to get medical attention for her husband. Audio of the SWAT team's radio conversations was also included.
She has retained a lawyer, but no legal action has been taken.
"We just learned that the sheriff's department has released voluminous amounts of information in respect to this incident," said Guerena attorney Chris Scileppi. "We will review the documents and CDs, and will make ourselves available for comment in the near future."

[Ignition]

sorry if this had already been posted before

[Old Marine]

This was posted a couple of weeks ago.

[Ignition]

ah figured someone would of beat me to it

[michagnu]

His weapon safety on, or weapon unloaded, or a toy weapon, makes no difference.
Did he point it in the direction of the officers, after they knocked, broke down the door and entered? If he did, or reached for it, case closed, safety on the weapon has nothing to do with it, no ammo, nothing to do with it.
Officer safety is paramount. They cannot stand there and be shot, waiting to see if the guy's weapon is on "safe". They have no time to ask him if that gun is loaded. They have no time to ask if the gun is a toy or real.

If they could take a time out, sit down with the gentleman and discuss these things, that would be fine.
But a SWAT team generally is not afforded that opportunity by the person they are seeking to arrest.

Alternative? Stand there and be shot.

Agreed. Whether they had good reason to suspect him of anything might be questioned but there is no question they had good reason to open fire.

Interesting side note for those of you who are surprised a the volume of fire: They probably don't designate a guy to shoot him if the ____ hits the fan. I would like to be in on the meeting if they did though.

[TheReservist]

Sad that it had to happen, either way

[YLDNDN6]

Knock, knock, knock...this is the police, open the door, search warrant.....none of this sounds like "go for your gun" or "arm yourself" unless you are up to no good. If you are on the level, you don't even think of grabbing a weapon. Sad it had to happen, but what the heck was he thinking?

[Sgt Leprechaun]

Jacked up....but several questions remain....

Was this a 'no knock' warrant? (Probably so based on what they are saying).

If it was, they had the right to bust down the door at zero dark thirty. Like it or not. BUT, this is why judges don't like to issue these, for this EXACT reason.

Subject in fact (?) had a weapon and was responding to what he BELIEVED at the time was a home invasion (and it's not uncommon these days for the bad guys to yell 'Police' etc...and to even be wearing cop stuff).

Nonetheless, if you, as a member of the SWAT team, go into this, and see a threat with a rifle, you have no way of knowing the weapon is on 'safe' or not. You shoot to eliminate the threat. And, if armed with an automatic or semi auto weapon, firing 70 rounds.....is not unreasonable. It may sound so to the untrained person but it's not, based on various factors.

Yes, the whole thing sucks all the 'way round.

[advanced]

It sounds as if the SWAT officers went strictly by the book on this one, however, I'll suggest the training manuals are missing a few pages. The officers had all rights for taking the suspect out, they had lawful entry on their side (warrant) and they had the right to shoot (armed suspect).

What must be understood though is how was the warrant produced. In many of these drug cases the information for the warrant comes from a druggie who was turned into a snitch on a plea deal. Much of the info from such people can lead to bogus entries, they're trying to save their own hides. So some of the missing pages have to deal with was the info valid or bogus, are they making a justified entry or are they invading the home of a law abiding citizen? I know, the officers are not supposed to deal with these issues under the letter of the law. There is also the "color" of the law.

When I was SWAT we took everyone alive. We didn't take chances, quite the contrair. It is simply those split second choices that a seasoned highly experienced officer is able to make. In my day we were all combat vets who on the whole only took lives if we had to. How do you train for that? It is much easier to train by the book, even if it does have pages missing. Just because a suspect has a weapon (Like Lep said he could have thought there was a home invasion going on) does not mean that he should be killed.

If the choice is made to kill the suspect, yes fire everything at him till he drops, take no chances. During training we used to have to fire so much you actually get tired of it. You learn to fire and reload so fast you'd think our weapons never emptied. I was on the entry team, typically up close and personal. We were all expert shots and quite deadly, when we had to be.

[FistFu68]

There is alot of Crazy Chit going on down here in Az.The Fuzz is loaded for Bear can't really Blame them.As far as this Former Marine getting wasted well I'll leave that up too the Experts.F**k Stephan Segall bought Maricopa County a M-48 Tank and rammed it thru a Chicken Farmers house 'cause some snitch said there were Cock Fight's going on there,That's BullChit 'cause I was at Church then

[advanced]

Hey Fist - I've been to Tombstone, loved the area. Also loved Flag.

[SgtThrasher]

Fist, bro when did you leave Wisconsin ? How do you like Arizona ?

[Sgt Leprechaun]

Advanced, I"ve BTDT too. Concur.

[hbharrison]

The only thing I see that is someone had some real bad INTEL on this one as they found nothing ilegal in the house.

[Vandrel]

Just read up on this from another site, just....wow. wtf


Initial report, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFhZ-...layer_embedded

911 call, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LsxnRUNKuE&NR=1

Lawyer, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBxVJ...eature=related