The Jose Guerena Shooting: Pima County SWAT v. We The People by Jim March

Editor’s note: This is the first guest post from Jim March, who may be reached for comment at 1.jim.march@gmail.com in addition to the comments section here. – KL

Further Information: The Arizona Daily Star has released a PDF of the affidavit in support of the search warrant which led to the shooting. And Will Grigg chimes in: https://lewrockwell.com/grigg/grigg-w217.html

Executive Summary:

On Memorial Day, May 30th 2011, I attended a rally and set of speeches surrounding the shooting of recent Iraq-war returnee Jose Guerena, USMC. The Oath Keepers were the primary sponsors but to their credit didn’t try and dominate the proceedings, which included everything from a Code Pink contingent to Guerena family members and supporters and generally interested members of the community. What I learned there and in study of the available data suggests serious problems at all levels: horrible policy decisions beforehand, a grossly mis-managed raid and an appearance of a cover-up after the fact. Throughout this article, I will try and portray the facts available in the best possible light for the law enforcement officers and managers involved.

As we’ll see, even when we try and do that, the resulting implications vary from disgusting to terrifying.

First, before reading this, I urge you to study the available video footage of the shooting scene at least twice:

Preliminary conclusions:

  • In my study of the actual shooting location and the video footage Pima County has made available to date, I have reason to think that the footage is incomplete. At a minimum, one of the deputies who was actually shooting had a helmet cam as one of two visible “dongles” on his helmet. Below is a still image from the video, at 30 seconds in – where is that video?

    Deputies knew that Mr. Guerena was a recent combat veteran of two tours in Iraq, that he legally owned guns, and that the raid was taking place just over two hours after he did a 12hr shift at a mine. Combined with the very brief warning period before battering his door in and the use of a “siren” that sounded more like a car alarm, they knew or should have known that Mr. Guerena wasn’t going to survive this encounter.

  • Because nothing whatsoever was found in Mr. Guerena’s home, we can be certain that if given the opportunity, Mr. Guerena would have consented to the search. He didn’t have to die.
  • Close-range photography of Mr. Guerena’s front door shows that “suppressive fire” was being sprayed in. This was closer to a “drive by” than anything resembling modern police work – and it happened in a home where they knew a woman and child were present.
  • Worse, the photographs of the front door show sprays of “misses” to either side that, at least at first glance, don’t appear to have been made during the period where most of the shots were made as per the video released by Pima County to date. If video is being withheld that shows additional firing, criminal misconduct may have happened that the Pima County sheriff’s office is attempting to suppress knowledge of. Again: I don’t know this for sure – the various “doorframe hits” may indeed have happened within the 54 seconds of video from a single, distant camera released so far. But, I don’t see those hits happen or anybody in position to make all of those exact hits.
  • If it is now policy to lethally eliminate anybody who attempts to defend their home when it is impossible to distinguish between home invaders and law enforcement because they behave in exactly the same fashion, then it is finally time to question the “war on drugs”. Ending it is now a simple survival measure for gun owners. To his credit, former “drug warrior” and former Sheriff Richard Mack is now admitting this, publicly. To their discredit, the “Oath Keepers” aren’t quite ready yet. Individual members clearly “got it” but the official policy isn’t there yet.

Direct Evidence – The Front Door


  • Round marked “one” hit the end of the door with it swung open, so the entry point isn’t visible with it closed. What you see here is the exit.
  • As best I can tell, entry holes two and three match door exit holes four and five – in other words, like hole number one they entered the door’s “end” with it swung open, but they also passed through the doorframe and made initial entry holes at two and three. If so, this indicates a fairly extreme downward angle, as if Mr. Guerena was already on the ground?
  • In general, what we see here is at best evidence of “spray and pray” fire. At worst, if these were made after the initial burst of fire, they were part of an attempt to “make sure he’s dead”.
  • This door proves that a fully military operating using distinctly military tactics1 have now been applied to somebody with no criminal record, with a recent distinguished combat record in the service of this country, in a densely populated suburban area against a home that contained a child that “law enforcement” knew was present.

Direct Evidence – Rear Of Home

This isn’t quite as bad as it appears to be. What looks like “horizontal stringing” (a tendency for the group of shots to land in an up-and-down pattern) may not be, because we don’t know what the pattern looked like coming through the glass. And as rounds struck within the home, they would likely be deflected “at random”…in other words, bullets entering anything (flesh, walls, furniture, etc.) can pop out at odd angles, and do so at near-random angles in a sort of “cone shaped” area of probability on the other side of whatever they hit.

Parting Commentary

  • If answering home invaders with a gun in hand will always get you killed if it happens to be law enforcement acting like home invaders, then the 2nd Amendment has been essentially nullified.
  • A search warrant carried out under circumstances that will predictably lead to the death of the person being searched is, by definition, an unreasonable search. Therefore both the 2nd and 4th Amendments were severely disrespected in this instance and in far too many others related to the “war on drugs”.
  • For this reason, it is now far past time for the NRA, Second Amendment Foundation, CalGuns Foundation, Gun Owners of America, the Arizona Citizen’s Defense League and the like to figure out that “the war on drugs” is now a “war” on every American, especially gun owners. I for one don’t believe law enforcement should decide to kill me at the merest suggestion that I’m harboring contraband, and I for one will fight such policies at every possible level.
  • Taking this stance would put them in alignment with the ACLU on this issue, and would possibly conflict with some elements of their “conservative base”. Said elements however need to learn from this incident and decide which is more worthy of preservation: the US constitution, or high prices for various mind-altering substances? That is really the choice we’re down to, and I believe most are ready to support the former over the latter once it’s presented that way.

1. Not performed very well mind you! See also the video – they bust the door down, then stroll away, then casually wander in while others “hang out” in the area where bullets could fly past if there really was a murderer present. They were very, very lucky they were NOT up against a determined killer. Five rounds from a 50cal Barrett would have turned them all into hamburger. Then again, so would a Civil War era front-stuffer cannon – or similar improvised out of plumbing supplies…

 

37 thoughts on “The Jose Guerena Shooting: Pima County SWAT v. We The People by Jim March”

  1. No cop should survive anything like this ever again. Sorry if that sounds harsh (and if you delete this because of that), but it is the unvarnished truth- and will be absolutely necessary if liberty is to ever shine from America again. Hang on- the ride is about to get bumpier.

  2. And, notice, I’m not saying “we” should go out hunting cops, but am saying that when they go out hunting “us” they should not survive. They pick the fight; they should pay for their aggression with their lives.

  3. Kent,

    I can’t and don’t condone your statements. The death of any human being is a tragedy to be lamented, regardless of what we might think of their actions.

    That said, I don’t condone censorship either, and you’re not spamming.

  4. When there is no justice one seeks revenge, the appropriate revenge is for the USMC to occupy Pima County, Execute the SWAT team, the Sheriff, and Police Chief and run the surviving cops and deputies through three rounds of decimation.

    1. A.X.,

      We (Bill and I and the other writers of ZeroGov) personally and as a group do not advocate violence of any sort, including violence against police officers or government officials. The death of any human being is a tragedy to be avoided.

  5. “If answering home invaders with a gun in hand will always get you killed if it happens to be law enforcement acting like home invaders, then the 2nd Amendment has been essentially nullified.”

    Powerful and sobering observation.

  6. I suspected, as a result of a statement made by the deputies attorney to a reporter, that they thought no one would be home when this raid was initiated. That statement, when applied to the SWAT tapes I have seen makes sense. We have a group of lawmen who, as was later revealed, planned the timing of the raid to coincide with the house being empty. They didn’t expect anyone to be home.

    They approached this as a non-threat training exercise from the beginning in the SWAT vehicle. They approached the door in a loose formation, went through the quick motions of a warrant service and took the door allowing no time for a meaningful response from anyone inside as “no one would be home.” The clue should have been the vehicle parked in the driveway.

    Lo and behold someone was home and the training exercise became an “Oh S%#t!” moment when an armed man (Jose Guerena) confronted them with a rifle. Kill or be killed now applies so they emptied their weapons in fright spraying the area with 71 rounds and hitting the target 20+ times.

    After that they are outside wnadering around and huddling recounting what happened and probably saying WTF and trying to justify what they didn’t do that required them to do what they did.

    Sorry fellas. This is negligent homicide in my book and as many as were involved should be tried and convicted for same regardless of the level of involvment. Shoddy poilce work and investigation, lackadaisical planning and execution with a cover-up likely in the works. If this doesn’t go anywhere with prosecutions you’ll know the fix is in.

    Where are the demonstrations as in the sixties and seventies? Where is the demonstration of outrage by the community?

    It’s all at the blog I started just for this G*^^#%n mess!

    I’ve been angered now since the 5th of May and I no longer sleep well at night.

    RS

  7. Richard…I don’t understand how they could have thought nobody would be home. I mean, all they had to do was call the mine to find out Jose’s schedule. Or park somebody outside the mine parking lot and look for Jose’s truck. They knew Jose was a recent combat vet, two tours in the sandbox…they must have thought of him as a potential threat!!! They’d have to be crazy not to.

    And that’s my point. If they decided to raid ME, they’d think of me as a threat. My RKBA activism is well known and goes way the hell back. I have a valid AZ CCW and pack pretty much 24/7. Granted, I’m known to be into SA revolvers but those are fast on the draw and a 357 is nothing to sneer at.

    So they’d treat me exactly the same way. This is absolutely personal. Granted, I’ve never so much as smoked pot but…one fake “informant” and I’m in Jose’s boat.

    Oh no. There ain’t no WAY we can tolerate this.

    What we have to do next is get AZ-CDL involved. We have to get them to understand that the “drug war” has turned, directly, into a war on gun owners. If this isn’t the wake-up call that does it, nothing will.

  8. Violence is not bad. Violence is ethically neutral.

    Sometimes violence is the proper response to violence. Violent self-defense is the proper course when you are attacked with violence. You may choose to behave otherwise, but to say that a person being attacked shouldn’t do everything in his power to avoid harm to himself and his family, including killing his attackers, is self-defeating. It is exactly what the attackers want you to believe.

    The death of any individual IS a tragedy that should be avoided, but the point where that avoidance comes into play is when the attackers choose to attack the innocent. At that point the dominoes have been set into motion, and it is not the target of the attack who is to blame. If cops don’t want to be killed while breaking into a house, STOP BREAKING INTO HOUSES!!! Otherwise you deserve what you get.

  9. There’s part of an interview with Sheriff Dipstick that supports the idea that anybody with a gun just became “in season”.

  10. Thanks for the article Jim, it is an eye opener. As someone who believes strongly in the US Constitution I am wondering where we draw the line? Should you just allow this invasion or is it worth you or your family’s life? Are we to expect Ruby Ridge situations in the future? When will communities band together in support against this?

  11. NOTE: There is a difference between revenge and correcting bad policy.

    Revenge is, he did it to me, so I am going to do it back to him.

    Bad policy correction is, he did it to me, and I don’t want it to happen to me again, so I’m going to be rid of him one way or another so that it won’t happen to me again.

  12. Charles Berthot

    How many in this crew are recent veterans? I ask this because so many of the incidents that I have read about in the news from the Middle East indicate that this is normal procedure. Also, I have a friend just returned from two tours in Afghanistan and we have discussed training versus survival.

    After the incident with the Congresswoman, I would have little confidence with the sheriff.

    I flew Navy from 1943 to 1947 so I am no Pilgrim

    III Chamber 45

    1. Charles,

      I am retired from the Army and most of our Village is comprised of former veterans or career military folks. This is only going to get worse.

      Bill

  13. The information regarding the SWAT teams belief no one was home came from the attorney representing the deputies who raided the home. That was a statement made to a reporter here locally and reported in the news. I presume he stupidly released the information gleaned from the statements of the deputies to him and contained in the PDF file recording the deputies statements. But it does fit the actions both in the SWAT van just prior to and then throughout the raid. Carefully view the tape with this presumption in mind.

    I make no excuses for the deputies. They killed a man due to gross negligence not only at the scene but throughout the investigative process and in planning the raid. There was no follow through either when the firing ceased or in the brief moments afterward when they should have secured the home, sought medical aid for the wounded and secured any additional suspects.

    This raid WAS NOT JUSTIFIED by what the investigation had revealed. Jose Guerena was suspected to death! That can happen to any of us, for any perceived violation of law, at any time and this must stop. SWAT must be limited to responding to violent shooting incidents as was the rule early on. I have the links to all of the analyses from former SWAT members in the articles at my site and list Confederate Yankee’s site. No I don’t want to bump my stats. I want this word to get out and bring an end to this madness before more innocents are killed and traumatized. I’m in this for blood so-to-speak.

    RS
    SEMPER FIDELIS

  14. The problem is only partially the police. The Uniform Commercial Code shows that laws regarding agents are in effect. This means that it is not only the police, but it is also law-enforcement trainers, law-enforcement supervisors, law-enforcement policy-makers, law-enforcement implementers, law-enforcement regulations, the whole chain of command right from the police sargent up to the President of the U.S. (since we are to some extent under martial law with Homeland Security). This can include Police Commissioners, Mayors, and City Council, in addition to others in the chain of command.

  15. Making the changes needed to tighten the leash aroung the neck of SWAT is not the only change needed. Daily presentation of weapons by uniformed officers in situations not justifying that method indicates poor training and a BELIEF that they are unaccountable to charges of assult with a deadly weapon. The Philadelphia incident involving the open-carrier is just one example. The officers use the tactic to demonstrate power and authority and justify the use as a concern for officer safety. Seeing an officer reach to draw his weapon an armed citizen might perceive a threat to his well being and draw and fire in self defense. Think about that. If the citizen knows he’s ‘clean’ would he not be justified? Of course he will likely submit and if he survives the encounter should file charges for the crime the officer obviously committed.

    SEMPER FIDELIS

    RS

  16. Saw your asterick at the bottom but a “fully military operating using distinctly military tactics” is not even close to describing that ‘raid.’ The police officers were lucky they didn’t shoot each other or actually face an active shooter. There was no stack, the first cop in fell on the ground and went backwards, and then the others moved in to shoot over and around each other blind. Pretty disturbing. Why didn’t they pick him up at work?

    Also don’t think there was a “downward” angle to the shots based on the grouping/spread on the back of the home, but most likely blind shooting into the building. Luckily no children/spouse were present.

    I think we can call these guys the VERY SPECIAL Weapons and Tactics Team. I think if I had my Soldiers execute something like this, I would find myself in a court martial.

  17. In the end, the investigation will show that — bottom line — cops responded to a direct threat appropriately and this was a good shooting.

    1. Much like saying that because the car with a family in it refused to slow down or swerve away from me when I stood in the road and pointed a gun at them, I opened fire and was perfectly justified. The officer safety mentality is starting to take a fatal turn in the US as more and more Americans are injured and murdered by the armed tax-eaters enforcing the will of the rulers. The cops are convinced that their lives are far more important than that of the cattle they “protect”. It used to be about criminality but now it is simple and total obedience and submission.

      “Contemplate the mangled bodies of your countrymen, and then say ‘what should be the reward of such sacrifices?’ Bid us and our posterity bow the knee, supplicate the friendship and plough, and sow, and reap, to glut the avarice of the men who have let loose on us the dogs of war to riot in our blood and hunt us from the face of the earth? If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen!”
      -Samuel Adams

  18. Firstly, I find that the primary “problem” is that there are folks who think that they’ve got a god-given right to gun you down just because they wear their badged monkey suits. On my dime, no less. Excuse me? First of all… grow up and find an honest job by distancing yourself from the Imperial aura. No good comes from tainting yourself by associating with police, “law enforcement” or any other Imperial tentacles. Do something meaningful; like growing potatoes or building something someone can use. I have no respect for tax-trough feeders. When you work to support the Empire, and your local federally metastasized “departments”, then YOU are the problem. All the discussion about tactics and training are therefore meaningless side shots. Solzhenitsyn had it right when he said that should people have killed enough of the States agents who were engaged in killing or disappearing the innocent then maybe they would have thought twice before engaging in their gangster activities. Personally, I think they all have to acquire room temperature before any true change can happen. Why? Because government, and especially police forces, attract sociopathic individuals who just can’t help telling someone else how to live. Should someone go on the prowl looking to put the pigs down? No. But people should stop being “rabbits”, Solzhenitsyn’s own words. Think about it for a moment. When someone comes to your castle gates, masked, with weapons drawn then they fully intend to use them. And the constant paean for “retraining” is a pathetic excuse for covering up their criminality. Better to disband this fat-black line of killers and their enablers.

    1. My favorite Solzhenitsyn quote:

      “And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand? After all, you knew ahead of time that those bluecaps were out at night for no good purpose. And you could be sure ahead of time that you’d be cracking the skull of a cutthroat. Or what about the Black Maria sitting out there on the street with one lonely chauffeur — what if it had been driven off or its tires spiked. The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin’s thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt!”

      And another one from The Gulag Archipelago:

      “But let us be generous. We will not shoot them. We will not pour salt water into them, nor bury them in bedbugs, nor bridle them up into a “swan dive,” nor keep them on sleepless “stand-up” for a week, nor kick them with jackboots, nor beat them with rubber truncheons, nor squeeze their skulls with iron rings, nor push them into a cell so that they lie atop one another like pieces of baggage – we will not do any of the things they did! But for the sake of our country and our children we have the duty to seek them all out and bring them all to trial! Not to put them on trial so much as their crimes. And to compel each one of them to announce loudly:

      “Yes, I was an executioner and a murderer.”

  19. Think about the politics of where this happened. Does anyone remember Sheriff Dipstick flapping his yap about conservative talk radio when Gifford’s got shot? Isn’t this the area that wants to secede from Arizona and form a new (liberal) state in the union?

    Had Jose been an illegal alien from across the border, especially a non-violent person trying to just support a family (as he was), instead of a MARINE, the public would be howling for the SWAT team’s head, Dipstick would already have suspended them without pay pending a criminal investigative probe into the killing.

    Had the mother or the child been killed in this fiasco, the same would be happening…. blame the team. But because it was a Marine that legally owned guns, these good-ol-boys went in looking for a fight.

    Thank God these idiots (murderers) weren’t on the scene when Gifford’s got shot…… They’d have sprayed half the crowd with their gunfire and…… made that poor woman (and anyone else injured but still alive) wait for an hour before letting the first responders tend to the wounded.

    Its pretty clear this is a cover-up trying to hide gross and criminal behavior on the SWAT teams part. How many times does the story have to change before you believe something dreadfully wrong happened here?

    When asked about an apology for the family of Jose Guerena, Mike Stone, the attorney for the Swat team, was quoted by KVOA (dot) com as saying, “I cannot fathom what apology is required at this point.” …..This sounds kinda sanctimonious and elitist. Does he really feel that superior to the victimized family?

    I’m still waiting for someone to tell the mother what she should tell her little boy asking his mother if his Dad was a bad guy? Maybe this, “Son, your dad was the victim of a bunch of militarized “peace officers” who no longer think that the 2nd and 4th Amendments apply anymore. Basically, my son, S**T happens.”

    Those that support this Sheriff and SWAT team need to take off their rose-colored glasses, take the clip off their noses, breathe in and smell the manure (aka cover-up) that this SWAT team attorney and Sheriff is trying to feed them. All involved in this man’s unlawful killing need to be tried on charges of murder, attempting a cover-up, and violating Jose, and his wife’s, Constitutionally guaranteed rights.

  20. Timothy Frank

    We can all be horrified at this abuse of police power. Yet, such abuse and misuse of power increases with every incident to which no consequences are yielded.

    Of course, a private citizen does indeed have “the right” to defend their home. Any “criminal” entering a home under such pretext would have been summarily dispatched by the home owner.

    Tit for tat will not resolve this abuse of power.

    So what is different about “police action” in this regard?

    A criminal which enters a home and “kills” a home owner is subject to justice. He/she will be caught, arrested, tried, convicted, and bear the consequence for his/her mistake or his/her intentional abuse of power.

    This is simply not true when the police are involved.

    The police must, and should, be held accountable to the same standard as every other citizen. This case clearly is murder of an innocent home owner. Therefore, the police, and leadership that approved the action — AND LEADERSHIP THAT APPROVED THE ACTION — must, should, be tried for murder.

    Application of justice, where justice is due, will ultimately resolve this type of abuse.

  21. Bill, those are the very quotes I was paraphrasing from. Thanks for posting them. Lee, as a former military man myself, and son of a WW2 vet, all I can fathom is that there is the fraternal/brotherhood thing going on. It’s also why even former cops or military men have a hard time admitting that the institution itself, the barrel, and not only the apples in it, is intrinsically corrupt. When you’ve invested so much time and sacrificed so much to these entities its almost blasphemous to speak ill of “Mother”. Took me until my late thirties before I snapped out of my programming. Some never wake up.

  22. All across the U.S. the police have declared war on citizens. They have the lamestream media on their side. Soon they will control the ‘net. It’s fight or lick their boots. Each of us has to make a decision.

    Kent & Bill: Well said!

  23. It’s the veil of legitimacy.

    These men would not do such things if the badges were removed. Tactics and training mean nothing if there is no money to fund these homicidal maniacs. At this man’s memorial, were there discussions of mass tax protests? Was there talk of defunding it at all? Sure they might have pulled the trigger, but we supplied the bullets and the guns.

    The answer: defund the whole rotten thing. The response: it will lead to anarchy(chaos). Our response: what do we have now?

  24. There is so much anger here…so much waste of emotional energy based on the SLANTED video commentary above that presents falsified facts, and ignorance — without knowing why the ex-Marine was gunned down in the SWAT raid. The false video commentary says Jose Guerena has no police record … that’s farthest from the truth. That’s like farting in public that emits a bad smell in this blog.

    The angry Guerena defenders were also ignorant as to who Guerena is — he is a member of the family ring engaged in drug-trafficking and other criminal activities — the subject of Pima Country SWAT raid warrant. It is so damn stupid for anyone to say that an innocent man armed with an AK-47 who elected to shoot it out with the law enforcement team was “murdered” in the raid. This drug-trafficking member of an underground ring comprising of his family gang and relatives engaged in criminal activities was and has never been an innocent victim of a police raid.

    If you are one of those who badly needs to enroll in an anger management class because in cloud nine you angrily believe that this country’s law enforcement force had declared a war on you — don’t call the police at all if you are attacked by hoodlums, or there is murder in your family … better still, don’t be a contradictory hypocrite and call 911 under any circumstances at all. Remember that in your freaking mind, you are in a “state of war” with the police or law enforcement authorities. In your outrage, start a new life in hell by not paying your taxes … or better still, arm yourself with an AK-47 like Guerena, and shoot a policeman on sight if the angry demon inside you really calls for immediate retribution. Do this as a perverted act of justice for yourself and your family. I need not tell you what the outcome will be … you will know.

    1. Bakadude,

      It is interesting that Guerena was not charged after his arrest.

      You are incorrect. Guerena used an AR-15, not an AK47, and technically an AK-47 is a Class III fully automatic weapon, AKM and AKS variant are the semi-auto variety.

      If Jose is guilty of all this through family association, does that mean that we will now change the system so that all vertical and horizontal family tree members will go to prison too in this violent and silly War on Drugs?

      “don’t call the police at all if you are attacked by hoodlums, or there is murder in your family … better still, don’t be a contradictory hypocrite and call 911 under any circumstances at all.”

      Amen to that, I will never call 911 nor have I had too. I will avoid the involvement of cops in my life as well as I can and will certainly not invite them in. My life as a victim would be in severe danger once the cops did show up due to their malicious attitude toward all who aren’t their “kind”. But then again, I think it is sociopathic to outsource my self-defense to others without their consent. As an individual, American jurisprudence dictates that cops have no obligation or duty to protect me as a citizen anyhow.

      I am not angry but simply assuming the proper defensive posture any free man should when it comes to government police.

      It it weren’t for cops and tax collectors, freedom would not be nearing the extinction it has in this country.

  25. Ohhhh… He was “allegedly” engaged in “trafficking” plants and chemicals your government does not like. Well, that’s a perfect excuse to execute a man in front of his family. Bakadude, when the dust settles from this, a man is dead over plants. Do you get that? Is that OK with you? Your government allows (yes, allows) you to drink alcohol, but they will execute you for having a plant. I care not what men like Ayoob say. I do not have to wait to see who was in the wrong. The men who killed a man over allegedly having a plant or a chemical they don’t agree with are wrong. Period!

    Bakadude said-don’t call the police at all if you are attacked by hoodlums, or there is murder in your family … better still, don’t be a contradictory hypocrite and call 911 under any circumstances at all.

    OK, deal, just don’t call your cop buddies on me when you don’t agree with my actions. Or if you would prefer I did not alter my body in a way you agree with. OK?

    If I am attacked by hoodlums, at least they won’t be wearing a veil of legitimacy. At least it will be “legal” for me to return fire.

  26. Steve,

    I believe that the enforcers can come up with anything they wish and plug it into a warrant and shop the judge to sign it. Please give details on the prior arrests if you have it. I did notice he was arrested but not charged. My doubt is so great in the system, I automatically doubt the veracity of their claims because they have two objectives: fine and jail as many as possible and erase all wrongdoing on the part of the enforcers.

  27. 1.) Jose Guerena was an innocent man.
    2.) Suspected of being involved in criminal activity.
    3.) A 20 month investigation of he and his family had not revealed sufficient evidence for an arrest warrant for him.
    4.) They knew where he lived, where he worked and his work hours. (Presumed, should have known)
    5.) They knew he had a wife and 2 young children. (Or should have after 20 months)
    6.) After 20 months they sought a search warrant to recover any evidence that would support a warrant for his arrest and prosecution. (Fishing expedition, my experience)
    7.) They chose to use a SWAT team to accomplish this goal.
    8.) They planned the raid to occur when no one would be at the Guerena house. (Attorney for deputies statement to reporter, presumed accurate) (Why SWAT if no one home?)
    9.) SWAT tape shows clearly either inept amateurish actions of SWAT team OR expectation of the home being raided believed to be empty at the time. 1.17 min tape shows less than professional pre-raid activity in the van. (Half-hearted ‘go through the motions’ service as if using the service for training purposes) (My experience)
    10.) Knock and announce too short to allow adequate response time by any occupants before forced entry. (My experience)
    11.) After SWAT forces the door ‘the stack’ stops in the open doorway and begins firing weapons into the house. (Failed to complete dynamic entry (Why? Surprise? If the SWAT team was used for response to possible violent resistance then why did they not combat it by dynamic entry? My experience)
    12.) After exhausting ammunition at the doorway members retreat and secure the area around the house and wait. (Why? Recognized failures or fear?)
    13.) One hour, fourteen minutes pass before re-entry (Why?)
    14 ) After two robotic attempts at examining Guerena re-entry determines Guerena is dead.
    15.) Evidence seized consists of items which might be legally possessed in any home. (?)
    16.) Autopsy shows no drugs in Guerena’s system and ethanol content is consistant with death. Lists wounds and cause of death.

    We know Guerena had a AR-15 rifle and the safety was in the ‘on’ position and had not been fired. His wife had awakened him and warned him of men at the front of the house. He directed her to hide in a closet with their son. (Her statement, presumed truthful (?)) SWAT fired 71 rounds many of which hit things other than Guerena, mant of which exited the house and hit exterior properties.

    Now I am sorry to say that all of this could have been avoided by a knock at the door by a detective and a uniformed officer, having warrant and I.D. in hand, with badges on display, in a peaceful manner. If anyone was home no one would have been hurt. Service could have been made in any manner than that in which this one was made. That is the simple truth. If they, the law, suspected a possibility of violence, SWAT could have been staged near by to respond to the actual event. (My experience)

    Charges of negligent homicide should be brought against all who participated in the investigation, warrant acquisition, planning and execution of the raid and anyone else having had any direct connection to Jose Guerena’s death. Charges for violations of Federal statutes, with investigation by D.O.J. and civil penalties levied against all, including Pima County and C. Dupnik. All through legal actions in courts of law.

    But don’t hold your breath. I’m not holding mine. (My experience)

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top