Tucson SWAT Team Defends Shooting Iraq Vet 60 Times

[rottenflesh]

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The man shot and killed by Pima County SWAT officers was linked to a home-invasion crew, the attorney representing the officers said Thursday.

Attorney Michael Storie said authorities found rifles, handguns, body armor and a portion of a law-enforcement uniform inside the house where Jose Guerena was shot by officers serving a search warrant May 5.

"Everything they think they're going to find in there they find," Storie said in a news conference called a day after the Sheriff's Department complained that media reports on the incident spread misinformation and encouraged speculation about events surrounding the shooting. The Sheriff's Department said Wednesday that it would provide no details about the case to the public until the investigation is complete.

The search warrant and court documents showing what deputies were looking for and seized from Guerena's home have been sealed by a judge and are unavailable to the public.

Christopher Scileppi, who is representing the Guerena family, said nothing seized from Guerena's home was illegal and that Storie's statements were unsupported by facts and meant to discredit Guerena's character. Scileppi did not comment on the details of the case.

On Thursday afternoon, the Sheriff's Department declined to comment on what the attorneys said.

All statements made by Storie on Thursday morning came from the five SWAT officers he is representing, he said.

The five officers had "no choice but to shoot" when they breached the front door of the house in the 7100 block of South Redwater Drive and saw Guerena holding a rifle, Storie said. The home is on the southwest side, near South Wade and West Los Reales roads.

The house was targeted as part of an investigation into home invasions and drug rip-offs. The Guerena house was among homes that "were identified as locations where these activities were being carried out from."

No arrests have been made from any of the other homes where SWAT served search warrants, Storie said.

According to the SWAT members' statements, all law enforcement vehicles approaching Guerena's home had lights and sirens on and parked in the driveway, Storie said.

Guerena's wife, Vanessa, who was inside the house with their 4-year-old son, has said she did not see or hear lights and sirens and that Guerena thought they were being targeted for a home invasion, which is why her husband grabbed his AR-15 rifle and told her and their son to hide in a closet.

The raid took place about 9:30 a.m., and Guerena, 26, was asleep after working the graveyard shift at Asarco Mission Mine, Guerena's wife said.

Storie said that once the SWAT team parked outside the home, the lights and sirens were turned off. An officer banged on the door for about 45 seconds while identifying the team as police, he said.

After that, five SWAT members broke in the front door and saw Guerena holding a rifle at the end of a long hallway.

One officer began shooting after Guerena placed the rifle in front of him and said: "I've got something for you; I've got something for you guys," Storie said.

The other officers at the front door of the house also fired, striking Guerena.

All five SWAT members were shooting from just outside the home and never entered the house, Storie said.

After Guerena's wife and son came out of the house, officers sent in a robot, and that's when they saw Guerena had been shot and was unresponsive.

When asked why SWAT members did not rush in to render medical aid to Guerena, Storie said officers on scene "have to assume that there are other people with guns and that there are other people with body armor inside the residence."

He said officers could not conclude Guerena was incapacitated because he fell into a room after he was shot and officers could not see him from the doorway.

Based on a photograph of a large bloodstain inside the home, Scileppi said, Guerena fell down in clear view of the front door and officers could see him.

The SWAT officers fired 71 shots, striking Guerena 60 times.

The search warrant was not directed at any particular person, and Guerena's name was not mentioned, but it was targeting whoever might be inside the residence, Storie said.

If SWAT members had been let into the home, those inside "probably ... wouldn't have been arrested," Storie said.

While the SWAT team was at Guerena's home, another SWAT team was serving a search warrant in a nearby home as part of the same investigation, and Storie said a man showed up during the search and said, "You shot my relative."

Storie believes somebody called from inside Guerena's home and alerted family members to the shooting.

Scileppi said he would not comment on those allegations until he "has all the facts."

A portrait of Jesus Malverde, believed to be a "narco saint," was found under Guerena's bed, Storie said. He did not know if drugs were found in the home. Guerena's wife denies having them in her home.

According to Storie, several days before the shooting undercover officers in an unmarked car drove by Guerena's home to do surveillance, and 10 minutes after they drove by, they were alerted that their license plate had been run through the Motor Vehicle Division by someone they say followed the unmarked vehicle from Guerena's home. That was considered countersurveillance on law enforcement, Storie said.

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

Scileppi said it took two weeks for "the fourth version of the story" and these details to emerge because "they needed to put a story out that is going to protect them."

"Bottom line is they've had two weeks to construct a story, circle the wagons," Scileppi said.

Scileppi asked Storie and the Sheriff's Department to release more information about the incident. "The family wants to know the truth," he said.

Scileppi has partnered with Patrick Broom for this case. The five officers Storie is representing are from the Sahuarita, Marana and Oro Valley police departments, and two from the Sheriff's Department. The sheriff's SWAT team is made up of officers from different agencies.

Contact reporter Fernanda Echavarri at fechavarri@azstarnet.com or 573-4224.







TL;DR: Swat never, never, NEVER make mistakes

also

Approves

[osiris]

60 shots without even entering the house? damn.

[rottenflesh]

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Yeah, He definitely asked for it by not grabbing his ankles. The SWAT is "completely" innocent.

[mrh2008]

[QUOTE

Yeah, He definitely asked for it by not grabbing his ankles. The SWAT is "completely" innocent.[/QUOTE]

Point a gun at a cop, and you're begging to get your ass shot.

every single one of them should be fired.

[evilwayz909]

I Hope His Family Gets A Good Amount Of Money For what These Bastards did

[mrh2008]

fired for what!? family should get money for what!? wtf are yall talkin about!?

Originally Posted by mrh2008

fired for what!? family should get money for what!? wtf are yall talkin about!?

are you telling me they couldn't have used non lethal methods to disarm him in front of his wife and child? he never even fired his weapon.


pathetic.
i'm sorta an eye for an eye kinda person. every last motherfucker in that team should stand in front of their wives and children and be gunned down by no less than 100 rounds.

[mrh2008]

Originally Posted by Creepy

are you telling me they couldn't have used non lethal methods to disarm him in front of his wife and child? he never even fired his weapon.


pathetic.
i'm sorta an eye for an eye kinda person. every last motherfucker in that team should stand in front of their wives and children and be gunned down by no less than 100 rounds.

So, If I pointed an AR15 at you, you'd choose to grab your pepper spray and or taser, run towards me and try to disarm me? Ya gave me a good laugh. Most definitely not what I would do, but hey... To each his own.

Originally Posted by mrh2008

So, If I pointed an AR15 at you, you'd choose to grab your pepper spray and or taser, run towards me and try to disarm me? Ya gave me a good laugh. Most definitely not what I would do, but hey... To each his own.

yeah and if you were standing there with about 30 of your moron colleagues busting a man's door down, with his children and wife present--- all of you armed to the max protected up in the toughest bullet proof vests available. a single weapon against all of that (because the man thought his family was in danger)would be worthy of what 300 rounds :D

a rubber bullet or some tear gas or a crippling blow to the wrist or knee ---would have been too much to ask not to kill a man in front of his children. ?

you wouldn't have the chance to point anything at me fool :D