Thread: 2 dead after flying Texas trooper fires at vehicle

2 dead after flying trooper fires at vehicle


By The Associated Press

7:48 p.m., Oct. 25, 2012

McALLEN, Texas — Three people were found wounded, two fatally, in a vehicle that was fired upon by a Texas state trooper in a helicopter.

The incident happened Thursday afternoon near the South Texas border with Mexico near the town of La Joya (HOY'-yah), about 70 miles northwest of Brownsville.

Katherine Cesinger (SEHS'-ihn-jur) of the Texas Department of Public Safety says a DPS aircraft was helping a state game warden in a high-speed pursuit when the DPS officer on the aircraft opened fire.

She says two people from the vehicle died, one was injured and six others were arrested. She called the shooting "an enforcement action" but declined to say whether police caused the deaths and injuries. She says the Texas Rangers are investigating and no other information was available.

2 dead after flying trooper fires at vehicle | UTSanDiego.com

Trooper in copter fires on vehicle; 2 killed

Jason Buc, Express-News
By Jason Buch
Updated 11:02 p.m., Thursday, October 25, 2012

Two people died Thursday in the Rio Grande Valley after a trooper in a highway patrol helicopter opened fire on a vehicle fleeing law enforcement.

A Texas Department of Public Safety helicopter joined a pursuit initiated by Texas Parks and Wildlife on Thursday afternoon near La Joya in Hidalgo County, DPS spokeswoman Catherine Cesinger said.

A DPS officer “discharged a weapon” during the chase, according to Cesinger's statement.

She confirmed that two people traveling in the vehicle died, one was injured and transported to a hospital, and six others were captured.

Troopers were looking for additional subjects Thursday afternoon and the Texas Rangers are investigating the incident, Cesinger said.

Additional details were unavailable Thursday night.

DPS has taken an aggressive role on the border in recent years, increasing the number of troopers there, deploying boats and dispatching helicopters with designated marksmen armed with powerful rifles.

As a result, the agency has been involved in a large number of high-speed chases — sometimes ending in what troopers call “splashdowns,” when smugglers drive their vehicles into the Rio Grande to escape U.S. law enforcement.

Cartel operatives on the Mexican side often use boats to try to recover contraband from the smugglers' trucks.

The agency's director has said it's been forced into the role because federal agencies aren't doing enough to secure the border and because smugglers have become more aggressive, resorting to splashdowns, using other vehicles to block pursuits and throwing homemade spikes at officers.

But their methods have been questioned, including decisions to shoot at fleeing vehicles from patrol cars and helicopters, a tactic eschewed by other law enforcement agencies.

jbuch@express-news.net

Trooper in copter fires on vehicle; 2 killed - San Antonio Express-News

2 immigrants dead as DPS helicopter opens fire during chase

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By JOEL MARTINEZ, The Monitor
DPS shooting


MGN Online
MAP DPS fatal shooting

Posted: Thursday, October 25, 2012 11:00 pm | Updated: 11:21 pm, Thu Oct 25, 2012.

By JACQUELINE ARMENDARIZ and ILLDEFONSO ORTIZ, The MonitorBrownsville Herald

NEAR LA JOYA — A Texas Department of Public Safety sharpshooter opened fire on an evading vehicle loaded with suspected undocumented immigrants, leaving at least two people dead, sources familiar with the investigation said.

A Texas Parks and Wildlife Department game warden attempted to pull over a vehicle suspected of smuggling immigrants Thursday afternoon along FM 2221.

A DPS helicopter was called in to assist in the pursuit and a sharpshooter opened fire on the evading vehicle — a policy permitted by the agency, said two law enforcement sources not authorized to comment on the investigation.

After the smuggler’s vehicle stopped along FM 2221 near Mile 7 Road, troopers found three people shot inside, law enforcement sources said.
Two of the suspected undocumented immigrants died from their injuries, law enforcement sources said.

Authorities are searching for more people who fled the scene, said DPS spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger.

Cesinger confirmed the two fatalities and said a third person was sent to an area hospital for treatment. She said six others have been apprehended.

Cesinger confirmed a DPS officer opened fire during the pursuit, but had no information about whether the officer shot anyone inside the evading vehicle.

“We do not want to speculate on any other issues at this time and have no further information,” Cesinger said in the email.

The Texas Rangers are investigating the incident.

2 immigrants dead as DPS helicopter opens fire during chase - Brownsville Herald: Local News

Boy Texas is getting serious. Maybe the Federal Government should take lessons from them.

Diplomats investigate arrest of 7 Guatemalans

By The Associated Press
9:42 a.m., Oct. 26, 2012

LA JOYA, Texas — Diplomats are investigating the arrest of seven Guatemalans who were fired on by a state police helicopter in Texas during a chase through the desert that left two people dead near the Mexico border.

The Guatemalans were apparently in a vehicle carrying suspected illegal immigrants that was pursued down an isolated dirt road near the town of La Joya (HOY'-yah), about 70 miles northwest of Brownsville.

The pursuit ended when a state police sharpshooter fired from the helicopter. Two people died.

Details of the chase were scarce. The Guatemalan consul in McAllen said her government is looking into the matter.

The nationalities of the dead and of an eight person arrested later are unknown.

Diplomats investigate arrest of 7 Guatemalans | UTSanDiego.com

Diplomats investigate arrest of 7 Guatemalans

We seem to be seeing more from Guatemala, USAID has a program for Guatamalans that encourages them to send their cash home.


Migrant-Backed Loans: Remittances in Guatemala
SUBMITTED BY Dasha Kuts ON Fri, April 8, 2011 11:03 | COMMENTS (0)



Yesterday’s After Hours Seminar focusing on migrant-backed loans featured two speakers from William Davidson Institute (WDI), Khalid Al-Naif and Raul Reynoso and WOCCU’s Saul Wolf.
Background

In 2010 WDI initiated migrant-backed loans (MBL)¹ with assistance from the Microfinance International Corporation (MFIC) in the United States and ACREDICOM in Guatemala. MFIC marketed the product to migrants in the United States while ACREDICOM helped process loans in Guatemala. According to this report, some of the benefits of MBLs are the following:

1. Migrants provide 50 percent of the funding with the remaining 50 percent coming from formal banks. The overall effect doubles the recipients eligible loan size.
2. The ability to obtain a loan from a formal bank enables recipients to establish credit history.
3. In Guatemala recipients stated that they were more comfortable with getting a MBL than with going to the bank to get a loan; senders stated that MBL gave them more assurance that they will receive some of their money back and that their remittances would be put to good use.

Promoting Financial Inclusion

According to the report "Two Trillion and Counting" prepared by Peer Stein in 2010, the total need for credit by all formal and informal micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in emerging markets today is in the range of $2.1 trillion to $2.5 trillion. Among the estimated 365 to 445 million formal and informal MSMEs in developing countries, only 25-30 million are formal SMEs. Formal SMEs usually have 5-250 employees and some history of working with the formal banking sector.
The vast majority of MSMEs in the developing world consists of micro or informal enterprises. The credit gap for micro and informal enterprises around the world is about $1.4 to $1.7 trillion. Even though Latin America has the highest percentage of MSMEs with access to finance (about 60 percent) according to Peer's findings, the credit gap in that region is still very wide.
Access to Credit

It is very challenging for MSMEs to obtain credit because of the following reasons:

1. MSMEs often have no collateral and no credit history, making lending risky and unattractive for banks.
2. The remote location of some MSMEs makes transaction costs very high.
3. MSMEs have lower revenue potential, making these investments less attractive for banks.

Nevertheless, providing MSMEs with access to finance (referred to as financial inclusion) is essential to fostering sustainable economic development. When meeting in Seoul in the end of 2010, the G20 established the Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI) in order to emphasize importance of this issue.
Experts working with GPFI identified the following steps that need to be taken to address this issue:

1. Engage governments in establishing enabling environments that will encourage banks to lend to MSMEs by making necessary changes in the regulatory environment or by providing credit guarantee schemes to make it less risky for banks to lend to MSMEs.
2. Reduce barriers to property registry or reduce enforcement costs for lenders.
3. Address the problem of high transaction costs when banks deal with MSMEs located in remote areas through improved infrastructure.
4. Provide entrepreneurs in the developing countries with access to loans through migrant-backed loans.

Final Thoughts

Since the WDI project was recently completed, it is hard to draw conclusions. I thought that it was interesting to note that MBLs in Guatemala were offered at 19 percent interest rate while microcredit loans had rates of 22 percent. It is possible that the lower rate of MBLs reflects the fact that formal banks found MBLs to be less risky. While I think MBLs are a useful product, I think it is important to offer it not just for credit but also to promote savings. In addition, I think it would be beneficial if WDI considered offering training on financial literacy to the recipients of such loans.
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¹A migrant-backed loan (MBL) is an instrument that allows migrants to not just send their wages back home but to use remittances that they send to help their friends and family obtain a loan from a bank. MBLs require the establishment a separate account where remittances can be deposited. Migrants provide 50 percent of the loan, and the remaining half comes from the bank. If the beneficiaries do not pay back their loan, the bank takes the funds provided from the migrant out of the separate account and the migrants do not get anything back. Once the recipient pays their loan in full, the account is unfrozen and the migrant gets their money back.
Migrant-Backed Loans: Remittances in Guatemala | USAID Microlinks

Disclaimer: The information provided on this website is not official U.S. government information and does not represent the views or positions of the U.S. Agency for International Development or the U.S. Government.

http://www.alipac.us/f12/13-die-when...-texas-261346/

Trooper who fired on pickup tried to disable it

By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN and JUAN CARLOS LLORCA | Associated Press – 1 hr 52 mins ago

LA JOYA, Texas (AP) — A Texas state trooper who fired on a pickup truck during a deadly chase through the desert was trying to disable the vehicle and suspected it was being used to smuggle drugs, authorities said Friday.

The disclosure came a day after the incident left two people dead and two wounded on an isolated gravel road near the town of La Joya (HOY'-yah), just north of the Mexico border.

The pickup truck was first encountered Thursday by state game wardens, who believed it was occupied by illegal immigrants. When the driver refused to stop, the game wardens radioed for help, and a state police helicopter with a sharpshooter was the first to respond, according to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department spokesman Mike Cox.

In a statement, the Texas Department of Public Safety said the truck appeared to be a carrying a "typical covered drug load" on its bed and was travelling at reckless speeds.

After the shots were fired, the truck stopped. Seven Guatemalans were arrested, and no drugs were found.

The nationalities of the dead and of an eighth person arrested later were not immediately released.

The officer who fired the shots has been placed on administrative leave, which is standard procedure in fatal shootings.

In recent years, Texas state police have increased their presence in the border area, deploying more agents, more helicopters and more boats to patrol the Rio Grande.

Troopers are regularly involved in high-speed pursuits, often chasing drug smugglers into the river and back to Mexico.

Agency Director Stephen McCraw has said state police were pushed into that role because the federal government's efforts to secure the border have been insufficient.

Diplomats quickly began their own investigation into the chase.
Rita Claverie, Guatemala's deputy minister of foreign relations, said her government will demand an explanation from the U.S.

"This incident surprises us because we had never seen force being used from a helicopter. ... What had happened in the past were car pursuits and, in some cases, the shooting of undocumented persons," Claverie said.

Humberto Palacios head of protection and investigations at the Guatemalan consulate in McAllen, said the consulate was looking into the matter and would ask authorities to establish what happened.

Trooper who fired on pickup tried to disable it - Yahoo! News

"This incident surprises us because we had never seen force being used from a helicopter. ... What had happened in the past were car pursuits and, in some cases, the shooting of undocumented persons," Claverie said.

Stop encouraging your citizens to break the law and enter here illegally, Rita. Guatemala may be getting loans for infrastructure, meaning lining the pocket of politicians, based on how much it's citizens send back in remittances, but our country is a sovereign nation and Guatemala is not respecting that fact.

Immigrants identified in Texas chopper shooting
Aerial Chase Fatal Shooting

Posted: Monday, October 29, 2012 10:42 am | Updated: 10:39 am, Mon Oct 29, 2012.
Associated Press |

McALLEN, Texas (AP) — A Guatemalan diplomat has released the identities of two immigrants killed last week when a state police helicopter fired on their smuggler's truck near the Texas-Mexico border.

Alba Caceres (KAH'-sehr-es), Guatemala's consul in McAllen, says the victims were Marco Antonio Castro and Jose Leonardo Coj Cumar (KOH koo-MAHR'), of San Martin (mar-TEEN') Jilotepeque (hee-LOH'-tuh-pek), about an hour outside the capital.

Caceres expressed her government's indignation and made a formal request for a thorough investigation to the Texas Rangers on Friday. She was trying to interview survivors. She didn't know when the bodies would be released to the families, but said it could be delayed by the investigation.

A trooper fired from a Department of Public Safety helicopter Thursday afternoon in an attempt to stop a fleeing smuggler's truck that was suspected of carrying drugs.

Immigrants identified in Texas chopper shooting - Brownsville Herald: Local News

By The Associated Press

Published: Tuesday, October 30, 2012, 8:32 p.m.
Updated 1 hour ago

McALLEN, Texas — State law enforcement agents were close enough to a pickup to see it was carrying people, not drugs, before one opened fire, killing two Guatemalan immigrants, a diplomat said on Tuesday.

Texas Department of Public Safety officials have said the helicopter crew believed the truck was carrying a drug load under a cover in the vehicle’s bed and they shot to stop it.

Alba Caceres, Guatemala’s consul in McAllen who interviewed seven surviving illegal immigrants, said there was agreement that the helicopter was 450 to 600 feet away when a trooper inside fired in an attempt to disable the fleeing vehicle. She said the trooper should have been able to see the people inside.

“They all saw it (the helicopter),” Caceres said. “All of them, including those riding up front because they were stuck against the window.”

Along with the driver, four passengers were riding in the cab — three crammed behind the front seat, she said. The other six passengers, including the two who were killed, were in the truck’s bed, covered with a sheet.

Caceres had said Monday that her skepticism was building that a helicopter could fire on a vehicle without seeing people stuffed into the cabin and bed. “Neither you nor I believe it,” she said.

DPS spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger said Tuesday that the incident remains under investigation, but “according to our preliminary review and irrefutable evidence, the tarp did not blow off the back of the truck during the pursuit.”

She reiterated the agency’s earlier statement that the helicopter crew believed the tarp was covering a load of drugs when a trooper fired to disable the vehicle. She also said it’s rare for an officer to fire on a fleeing vehicle from a helicopter.

The shots killed Jose Leonardo Coj Cumar, 32, and Marcos Antonio Castro Estrada, 29. Coj was a father of three who was traveling to the United States because his eldest son needed surgery to repair an arm injured cutting fire wood, Caceres said. Castro was a father of two whose wife is three months pregnant. Both were from San Martin Jilotepeque, about an hour outside of the Guatemalan capital.

Caceres was awaiting death certificates that would allow the bodies to be taken back to Guatemala.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed Tuesday that the seven surviving Guatemalans are in the agency’s custody.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department game wardens spotted the truck Thursday near La Joya and called for help when the driver wouldn’t stop. The DPS helicopter responded and joined the chase.

Caceres has made a formal request for an investigation. The Texas Rangers, an arm of DPS that often assists other agencies in officer-involved shootings, is leading the probe. Cesinger said the agency’s Office of Inspector General is not looking into the case.

DPS has said the troopers suspected the pickup was carrying a “typical covered drug load,” and the driver was going at reckless speeds. Agency regulations say troopers are allowed to use force when defending themselves or someone else from serious harm or death. Shooting at vehicles is justified to disable a vehicle or when deadly force is deemed necessary.

The Rio Grande Valley Equal Voice Network, a group of community-based organizations, has scheduled a Thursday news conference and prayer vigil at the site of the shooting.

Diplomat faults Texas police for shooting deaths of illegal immigrants | TribLIVE