Two Years After The Murder of Police Officer Rodney Johnson...The Border Remains Open

By Dave Gibson
October 10, 2008

Two years ago, Houston Police Officer Rodney Johnson was shot and killed while making a routine traffic stop. The man that murdered Ofc. Johnson was an illegal alien who had been deported back to Mexico seven years earlier. However, President Bush's refusal to defend the U.S./Mexican border allowed this human predator to easily re-enter the United States and eventually turn this police officer's wife into a widow.

On the afternoon of September 21, 2006 Officer Johnson stopped a commercial vehicle traveling 20 miles over the posted speed limit. The truck was driven by Mexican national Juan Leonardo Quintero. A co-worker and Quintero's two step-daughters were also in the vehicle.

When Quintero was unable to provide any form of identification, Ofc. Johnson handcuffed him and placed him in the backseat of his patrol car. Once the officer was seated behind the wheel again, Quintero though handcuffed, removed the 9mm handgun concealed in his waistband and began firing at Johnson through the plastic shield separating the front and back seats. Ofc. Johnson was shot in the head five times. He was pronounced dead shortly after being taken to a local hospital.

40 year old Officer Rodney Johnson was a 12 year veteran of the Houston Police Department and a U.S. Army veteran. While serving on the HPD, Ofc. Johnson received two Lifesaving Awards. He leaves behind his wife Joslyn (also a police officer) and five children.

Clara Rodriguez, who lives in the neighborhood where Johnson patrolled had this to say about the murdered officer: "He was just so very nice. He was not ever mean. It just breaks my heart. I feel so very bad for his wife. He got up and went to work this morning, and this is what happened. This is what happened to one of the people who protects us, who truly took care of us."

Juan Leonardo Quintero is a convicted child molester and DWI offender, and was deported to Mexico by U.S. immigration officials in 1999. He had been working for a Houston area landscaping company and despite the DWI conviction, Quintero was driving a company vehicle at the time Ofc. Johnson stopped him.

A very sullen Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt placed all of the blame for his officer's death on Washington's refusal to enforce their own laws. He told reporters shortly after Johnson's murder: "If the government would fulfill their responsibility of protecting the border, we probably would not be standing here today."

On May 20, 2008, a Houston jury sentenced Quintero to spend the rest of his life in prison.

Making a statement before the court, Officer Johnson‘s sister said: “Juan Quintero is not remorseful, and he is not insane. Losing a loved one the way that we did, and we have is enough to drive someone insane. None of us have displayed such disgraceful and despicable behavior towards him as he has shown this family.â€