Tucson SWAT murders innocent Iraqi vet

[shitstorm]

AZ Daily Star

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

Linked by whom? Some jailhouse snitch who may have lied, as they often do?

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.

A guy who served two tours in Iraq, a Marine, might well be a gun owner, especially in Arizona where most everyone has guns. Is body armor illegal? What is a portion of a law enforcement uniform? Something from the military, perhaps? Pima County has not been forthcoming with shit. These are words from a lawyer, who got them from people who need to cover their asses. It means nothing. Lawyers can and do lie, just like their clients. If you believe this, Jose Beaz has something to sell you.

"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.

Gee, ya think a bunch of Rambo hotheads might want to smear the dead man so they aren't charged with murder?

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 video proves her wrong but it doesn't mean she heard the siren. They only ran it for a few SECONDS. Is this a bad neighborhood where sirens are common and might not even get her attention? Did she have the TV on, drowning out sounds from outdoors?

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. [b]An officer banged on the door for about 45 seconds while identifying the team as police, he said.

That is a flat out lie. The video proves that they knocked for ONE SECOND.

@ 26 seconds:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hd_OJmTL3jk