- Joined
- Sep 16, 2012
- Messages
- 46,863
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- Location
- Tucson, AZ
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Conservative
It's been a couple of years but some of you might recall the controversial shooting of Jose Guerena here in Tucson. This week his family received a settlement of $3.4M from Pima County (and a couple of local townships) for that shooting.
The background on this is that a confidential informant had provided information that Guerena and his family were involved in a large marijuana distribution organization. On May 5th, 2011 the Pima County SWAT team (with officers from other local departments) conducted raids at Jose's house as well as a couple of other residences. When they raided Guerena's home they saw Jose at the end of a hallway with an AR and fired 71 rounds at him hitting him 22 times. The initial claim was that Guerena had fired on the team but his rifle was found to still be on "safe". They also claim to have discovered evidence of his participation in the marijuana business but did not find drugs or money.
A brief rundown of the situation can be found here and includes a helmet cam video of the raid. - Family of Marine vet killed by SWAT team awarded $3.4 million settlement ? RT USA
While I hesitate to claim that Guerena was totally clean so far the evidence does not seem to be sufficient to slap a conviction on him. Furthermore, the way the raid was conducted seems to have been TOTALLY unnecessary and created a dangerous situation for all parties involved. On the morning of the raid Guerena had returned home from a 12 hour shift at the mine where he worked and had been asleep for an hour or so. A responsible method of taking him into custody would have been to have picked him up at work or to have stopped him on his way home. By using raid tactics the SWAT team put their own officers at unnecessary risk and also risked the lives of Guerena's wife and toddler who were home at the time.
The background on this is that a confidential informant had provided information that Guerena and his family were involved in a large marijuana distribution organization. On May 5th, 2011 the Pima County SWAT team (with officers from other local departments) conducted raids at Jose's house as well as a couple of other residences. When they raided Guerena's home they saw Jose at the end of a hallway with an AR and fired 71 rounds at him hitting him 22 times. The initial claim was that Guerena had fired on the team but his rifle was found to still be on "safe". They also claim to have discovered evidence of his participation in the marijuana business but did not find drugs or money.
A brief rundown of the situation can be found here and includes a helmet cam video of the raid. - Family of Marine vet killed by SWAT team awarded $3.4 million settlement ? RT USA
While I hesitate to claim that Guerena was totally clean so far the evidence does not seem to be sufficient to slap a conviction on him. Furthermore, the way the raid was conducted seems to have been TOTALLY unnecessary and created a dangerous situation for all parties involved. On the morning of the raid Guerena had returned home from a 12 hour shift at the mine where he worked and had been asleep for an hour or so. A responsible method of taking him into custody would have been to have picked him up at work or to have stopped him on his way home. By using raid tactics the SWAT team put their own officers at unnecessary risk and also risked the lives of Guerena's wife and toddler who were home at the time.
