Thread: ARREST MADE IN SGT. KENNETH VANN'S DEATH - UPDATE

Gun seized during arrest matches one used in officer's killing

By Michelle Mondo and John Gonzalez
mmondo@express-news.net
Updated 05:48 p.m., Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Gun seized during arrest matches one used in officer's killing

The assault rifle seized from Mark Anthony Gonzales' home after his capital murder arrest in the shooting death of Bexar County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Kenneth Vann was matched through ballistic tests to the one that was used in the crime, officials announced Tuesday.

The Smith & Wesson M&P 15 .223-caliber rifle was tested at the Bexar County Forensic Science Center and matched the weapon used in the slaying of Vann on May 28, according to a news release from the county.

Vann was shot multiple times as he sat at a red light around 2 a.m. at Rigsby Avenue and Loop 410.

Gonzales was arrested on Sunday afternoon after a tip led investigators to a friend of his who told them Gonzales had been drinking and taking antidepressants before the shooting and later told the friend he did it, authorities have said. Officials said the shooting appeared to be a random crime of opportunity with no known motive.

Also Tuesday, Bexar County commissioners paid tribute to the 11 local, state and federal agencies that worked on the investigation. The effort included the sheriff's office, San Antonio police, the county fire marshal and the district attorney's office, Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Rangers, U.S. Marshals Service, FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

“It was a tremendous show of force,â€

Rifle tied to deputy's slaying

By Michelle Mondo and John Gonzalez
mmondo@express-news.net
Updated 12:49 a.m., Wednesday, June 8, 2011

The assault rifle seized from Mark Anthony Gonzales' home after his capital murder arrest in the shooting death of Bexar County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Kenneth Vann was matched through ballistics tests to the one that was used in the crime, officials announced Tuesday.

The Smith & Wesson M&P 15 .223-caliber rifle was tested at the Bexar County Forensic Science Center and matched the weapon used in the May 28 slaying of Vann, according to a news release from the county.

Vann was shot multiple times as he sat at a red light around 2 a.m. at Rigsby Avenue and Loop 410.

Gonzales was arrested Sunday afternoon after a tip led investigators to a friend of his who told them Gonzales had been drinking and taking antidepressants before the shooting and later told the friend he did it, authorities have said.

Officials said the shooting appeared to be a random crime of opportunity with no known motive.

Also Tuesday, Bexar County commissioners paid tribute to the 11 local, state and federal agencies that worked on the investigation.

The effort included the Sheriff's Office, San Antonio police, the county fire marshal, the district attorney's office, Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Rangers, U.S. Marshals Service, FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

“It was a tremendous show of force,â€

Cary Clack: We're left to look for a motive — anything

Published 05:32 p.m., Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Now that it appears the killing of Bexar County sheriff's Sgt. Kenneth Vann may have been a random act of violence, we can truly understand the meaning of the word "senseless."

It's a word we often attach to a criminal act, but many crimes do make sense, if only to the perpetrator who is moved by rage, jealousy, revenge or some other emotion that motivates his crime. The reason for a crime doesn't minimize its barbarity and certainly doesn't justify it, but at least there's a reason to be examined and dealt with.

For days, speculation as to who killed Vann and why raced around the city. Though the possibility was strong that it was a random act and that he wasn't targeted, there were suggestions from day one - some articulated by law enforcement officials - that it could have been part of a gang initiation or some other organized plot.

The net of witness accounts, surveillance cameras and cellphone records that was used to snare Mark Anthony Gonzales in Vann's slaying appears to be thoroughly woven and sturdy. Yet, as of this writing, there still appears to be no motive, and the only explanation offered so far is that Gonzales was amped up on alcohol and antidepressants.

At a news conference Monday, Bexar County Sheriff Amadeo Ortiz announced there was no indication that Gonzales was part of any drug cartel or gang initiation. Ortiz then described Gonzales in a way reminiscent of others who have committed sensational murders: "This individual seemed to be a loner and didn't really associate with too many people."

Vann's widow, Bexar County Sgt. Yvonne Vann, making note of Gonzales' mixture of alcohol and medication, said, "I don't even think he realized what he was doing, that he was possibly signing his own death warrant," meaning the killing of her husband was literally senseless.

If Gonzales is guilty, and if only a drug-impaired stupor explains the shooting, this will be a case in which the heinousness of the crime dwarfs the perpetrator and the motive.

There are legitimate reasons to believe that conspiracies are behind the assassinations or attempted assassinations of political leaders. But one reason such conspiracies persist is that we refuse to believe that great - or at least powerful - men can be killed by one crazed gunman.

Can the president of the United States be slain by one lone assassin from a sixth-floor window?

Can the president be nearly killed by a deranged young man who wanted to impress a movie star?

If John Lennon, one of the most important cultural icons of the 20th century, was to be assassinated, it would be because of his principles and political beliefs, right? Not because some recluse was hearing voices and reading The Catcher in the Rye

And wouldn't the killing of a courageous officer like Vann, wearing a badge backed by the county of Bexar, the state of Texas, and the Constitution of the United States, be the work of powerful forces wanting to send a message and strike fear?

His death appears to be absent such sinister import and, if so, we're a safer community knowing that law enforcement officers and residents aren't being targeted by drug cartels and gangs.

Still, Vann's death is a reminder that any of us, at any time, can be innocent victims of violence.

Sitting at a red light, Vann was on the job. Had he not been there, the gunfire directed at him may have been sprayed on someone else later that night or on some other night.

Sitting at a red light, Vann took the bullets for the community he was sworn to protect.

His death may have been senseless and the murderer and the motive small. But Vann's largeness as an officer and as a man can't be diminished.

Cary Clack's column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. To leave a message, call 210-250-3486 or email cclack@express-news.net.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/life/articl ... z1OkNFd5qk