Thread: GA-Body of man shot by Dekalb deputy going back to Guatemala

Body of man shot by Dekalb deputy going back to Guatemala

By MARCUS K. GARNER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 06/21/08

Marcial Cax-Puluc's only friends in America gathered in the south Atlanta area Saturday night to bid him one last goodbye.

"We are not promised tomorrow," Malcolm Lewis said, consoling the younger mourners who gathered for a visitation at the Airport Mortuary Shipping Service in Hapeville, near Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

Lewis is a Stone Mountain contractor who had hired the young day laborer from Guatemala to lay tiles.

"When I paid him the $80 for the day, he was like a kid getting a new popsicle," Lewis said. Such was the enthusiasm Cax-Puluc had about working to send money home to his mother.

But that was not to be.

The young Guatemalan day worker was fatally shot June 9 in the home of DeKalb County Sheriff's Deputies Derrick and Linda Yancey.

Derrick Yancey told police he shot Cax-Puluc after the man shot and killed his wife Linda. DeKalb County police are investigating the shooting, and the sheriff's department is conducting an internal probe.

The husband told investigators he had picked up Cax-Puluc to help complete some household projects, and that the day laborer tried to rob the couple at gunpoint.

Cax-Puluc's five roommates dispute that account.

Oscar Perez, 28, who lived and worked with Cax-Puluc for the six weeks he was in the U.S., said he couldn't believe his friend would have done what Yancey said he did.

"He was the kind of person who didn't drink or smoke," Perez said. "But the only proof I have is myself and anyone that knew him."

Another roommate, Alejandro Montes, said he had run the deputy's account of the incident past many of his friends.

"They don't believe it," Montes said. "I don't believe it, either. I'm going to keep telling people this was wrong."

A police report listed Cax-Puluc as being 23, though his roommates said he was just 18. They said he was a field worker who had emigrated to the U.S. from the town of Pedro Sacatepequez to find work.

"He'd never seen that much money before," Perez said of the day Lewis paid him for the six-hour shift.

The Guatemalan Consul General in Atlanta, Beatriz Illescas Putreys, paid half of the $4,000 cost to send his body back to his family. The body leaves on Tuesday, said Putreys, who also attended the visitation.

"His friends came up with the rest (of the money)," she said. "Although they are very poor, they worked very hard."

Saying this won't be the first sad story she's seen in her position, Putreys said she hopes justice is done. "But if he is innocent, this is the very worst thing I've seen," she said.

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/ ... emala.html

Day worker shot by deputy was 'innocent,' friends say


By MARY LOU PICKEL
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 06/17/08

Roommates of a Guatemalan man shot and killed last week by an off-duty DeKalb County sheriff's deputy say their friend was a quiet day laborer who arrived in the United States six weeks ago.

Deputy Derrick Yancey told police he shot Marcial Cax-Puluc because the man fatally shot his wife in the deputy's home during an attempted robbery June 9. Yancey had picked up Cax-Puluc at a gas station earlier that day to perform work around the house, according to a police report.


Mary Lou Pickel/AJC
A false green card belonging to the deceased, Marcial Cax-Puluc.
Mary Lou Pickel/AJC
(ENLARGE)
Marcial Cax-Puluc was shot in the home of DeKalb Sheriff's Deputy Derrick Yancey in Stone Mountain. Yancey says he shot Cax-Puluc because the day laborer had shot his wife.

He was shot in the home of DeKalb Sheriff's Deputy Derrick Yancey in Stone Mountain. Yancey says he shot Cax-Puluc because the day laborer had shot his wife.


Cax-Puluc's roommates doubt the deputy's version of events.

"We're not going to stop until this gets cleared up," roommate Jose Perez, 29, said. "We know they killed an innocent guy who was just trying to get some money to help his mama in Guatemala," Perez said.

Yancey could not be reached for comment Tuesday. No one answered phone calls to his Stone Mountain home.

Roommates at the Stone Mountain-area apartment complex where Cax-Puluc lived described him as a "timid" teenager who didn't speak much. "He was a quiet kid. He didn't smoke. He didn't drink," Jose Perez said.

"He was just getting used to us," said another roommate Luis Perez, 30.

The men said Cax-Puluc was 18 years old, although police have given his age as 23. The undocumented day laborer came from the town of San Pedro Sacatepequez, Guatemala, they said.

Cax-Puluc's brief time in the United States revolved around walking from the apartment he shared with six other men to a gas station where he waited with other Hispanic day laborers for work. He had not had time to explore the area or have any fun yet, his roommates said.

Police said an autopsy was performed on Cax-Puluc. The DeKalb County Medical Examiner's Office referred questions about the case to DeKalb police, who are investigating the incident. A police spokesman said Tuesday there were no additional details regarding the investigation.

Link

Note the dates on the card

Says Resident since 03-24-06
Card expires 01-06-16

Permanent Residence Cards are given for TEN years?????????

Says his DOB is 12-17-89

What the heck is the deal with this guys age? Why the discrepancy. did this guy lie about his age to Federal immigration authorities? This guy looks like he is 25-30 years old.

You only have one birthday and one name given to you! Why the confusion!

Opps, silly me! The card is fake! I found it odd that this guy apparently arrived only a few weeks ago and already had a green card.

Originally Posted by MyAmerica

Note the dates on the card

Says Resident since 03-24-06
Card expires 01-06-16

Permanent Residence Cards are given for TEN years?????????

Says his DOB is 12-17-89

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My wife, a Filipina has a legal, permanent green card. It expires in 2017 but she will receive her American citizenship in a little more than 3 years.

The thing is, this story smells.

I read about it a few days ago. The day laborer was supposedly brought to the home to do yard work. For some reason it is claimed he was packing a gun, shot the lady several times to rob her and then later the husband, a sheriff, found himself in a situation that required him to shot him to death.

It all seems suspicious to me. How much later was it that the illegal alien was shot. Was it later that he was hired?

Originally Posted by StokeyBob

The thing is, this story smells.

I read about it a few days ago. The day laborer was supposedly brought to the home to do yard work. For some reason it is claimed he was packing a gun, shot the lady several times to rob her and then later the husband, a sheriff, found himself in a situation that required him to shot him to death.

It all seems suspicious to me. How much later was it that the illegal alien was shot. Was it later that he was hired?

I agree StokeyBob! Regardless of this guy's immigration status, this story is suspicious. This cop apparently goes and picks up a an illegal to do some work and the illegal ends up shooting his wife, so he shoots the illegal?

Could this illegal have been an unfortunate fall guy for a more sinister plan on the part of this sheriff.

Originally Posted by loneprotester

Originally Posted by MyAmerica

Note the dates on the card

Says Resident since 03-24-06
Card expires 01-06-16

Permanent Residence Cards are given for TEN years?????????

Says his DOB is 12-17-89

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My wife, a Filipina has a legal, permanent green card. It expires in 2017 but she will receive her American citizenship in a little more than 3 years.

Thank you for the information loneprotester and congratulations to both you and your wife on her pending citizenship.

In a different type situation, friends of mine adopted from abroad and as soon as the adoption became final they applied and were granted citizenship for both toddlers.