As usual, the police story is mutating in real-time as they attempt to concoct a rationale to defend firing 71 shots at a Marine who didn’t know they were police and didn’t fire a shot at them in the midst of a “shootout” at his home.
Deputies serving a search warrant on Tucson’s south side shot and killed a 26-year-old man Tuesday morning after he fired a rifle at them, officials said. At about 9:30 a.m. the Pima County Sheriff’s Department SWAT team arrived at the residence in the 7100 block of South Redwater Drive, said Deputy Jason Ogan, a Pima County Sheriff’s Department spokesman.
Jose Guerena was inside with his wife and their 4-year-old son when he fired at deputies, who had entered the home, Ogan said. It was unknown if the woman and child were in the same room as Guerena. Guerena fired his AR-15 rifle at the deputies who were holding up shields, Ogan said. Deputies fired back, killing Guerena, Ogan said.
Wait a minute… it turns out there wasn’t actually a shootout.
“What they (SWAT members) did see clearly is this guy went into a crouching position, almost on his knees, brought up an AR-15 assault rifle, pointed at the officers and said, ‘I’ve got something for you,’ O’Connor said, referencing Guerena’s alleged remarks to the SWAT members.
“At that point, officers immediately began firing on him.”
O’Connor said 72 rounds were fired by officers in just a matter of seconds. Guerena was killed almost instantly, even though he never fired a single shot. We’re told he did have a round in the chamber, but his gun was still in the safety position.”
I think I would have found the police story more credible if they claimed Guerena had said “say hello to my little friend” or “take this, ya dirty rats”. It’s never hard to tell when police are inventing details, because they inevitably concoct dialogue that sounds like an outdated B movie. What trained military man is going to a) not remove the safety, and b) announce his presence prior to firing, if he is outnumbered and intending to engage in combat?
Since the justice system is totally unwilling to hold these out-of-control SWAT teams accountable for their crimes or force them to stop these para-military armed home invasions, it’s time for the armed civilians of America to make one thing very clear to the police of America: if the police will not show due respect for the lives, homes, and families of American citizens, Americans will no longer respect theirs. I suspect the police will suddenly find the ability to avoid “accidentally” killing people by the first time an entire cop family is wiped out by a vengeful relative of a police victim.
The lesson of history is that violence usually provokes reactive violence. The police should be as concerned as anyone about the direction that their relations with the citizenry have been headed for the last 25 years.