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  1. #1
    tms
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    'Different things' led to arrest

    http://www.insidedenver.com/drmn/local/ ... 53,00.html

    'Different things' led to arrest

    Investigation of his family ties helped catch Garcia-Gomez

    By Marilyn Robinson and John C. Ensslin, Rocky Mountain News
    June 6, 2005

    Raul Garcia-Gomez, accused of killing a Denver detective last month, now sits in a Mexico City jail following a massive four-week manhunt that began zeroing in on his whereabouts late last week, authorities said.

    Denver detectives arrived in Mexico on Sunday, hoping to question Garcia-Gomez following his capture Saturday night in the Mexican city of Culiacán, about 140 miles north of Mazatlan.

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    Police in Denver, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Mexico had been hunting the 20-year-old kitchen worker and illegal immigrant since shortly after the May 8 ambush slaying of Detective Donald Young and wounding of Detective John Bishop at a baptism party where the two officers were providing off-duty security.

    Garcia-Gomez apparently entered Mexico on May 11 and moved around to different homes, said David Fisher, division chief of investigations for the Denver police, who is in Mexico City.

    Using interviews, informants and electronic and physical surveillance, officers were able to close in on the fugitive.

    "It was no one thing," that led to the arrest, said Tony Burke, supervisory inspector for the U.S. Marshal's regional fugitive task force in Los Angeles. "It was 10 different things."

    The trail led investigators to an area of Culiacán they described as a tough neighborhood with a high rate of drug crime.

    "By Tuesday or Wednesday, we knew he was in (the state of) Sinaloa. By Thursday, we knew he was in Culiacán," Burke said.

    "He was in another subdivision at one time, a really bad neighborhood. We were a couple of days behind him at that point," he added.

    Authorities had gotten reports that Garcia-Gomez had been seen walking around the neighborhood.

    "It's really a bad area and the police really don't even go in there," Burke said. "He probably felt pretty confident that they (authorities) wouldn't find him in Mexico. But we did our homework and identified his family network."

    The authorities had specific information provided, in part, by the U.S. Marshal's office in Los Angeles, said Ken Deal, chief deputy U.S. marshal for Colorado.

    "I don't know why they went to those doors, but I don't believe it was random. I believe they had a reason to be where they were," Deal said.

    By Friday, investigators were able to narrow their search down to a single house that belongs to a friend or relative of the suspect. Investigators said they believe Garcia-Gomez had been staying at the house for four or five days.

    U.S. marshals and Mexican federal police apprehended him when he was leaving a grocery store at 6 p.m. Saturday. Eleven minutes later, one of the marshals telephoned Denver Police Chief Gerry Whitman to let him know they had Garcia-Gomez in custody.

    Authorities said Garcia-Gomez offered no resistance.

    "I do know he was surprised," Burke said.

    A gunman fatally shot Young, 43, in the back and wounded Bishop, 35, while the two officers were providing security during a party at Salon Ocampo at 1733 W. Mississippi Ave.

    By the next morning, Garcia-Gomez had become a suspect in the case.

    A CrimeStoppers tip gave investigators the suspect's first name and a possible address.

    Detectives checked and found Garcia-Gomez's full name and information on three traffic tickets he had gotten. The tickets did not include a license plate number, but they led investigators to the dealer who had sold the white Dodge Neon, similar to the car seen leaving the scene of the shooting.

    The dealer was able to provide investigators with the suspect's address, work and references he gave for a car loan.

    Besides Garcia-Gomez, authorities in Los Angeles arrested the suspect's father, Mercedes Castaneda Gomez; a sister, Ayde Gomez; and Santiago Nicholas Hernandez, who police said may be the suspect's uncle.

    All three are being held on immigration violations, but Whitman said federal authorities are investigating whether they could be charged with harboring a fugitive.

    Meanwhile, another suspect remains in custody in the Denver County Jail. Jaime Arana- Del Angel is being held on investigation of being an accessory to murder.

    He was arrested May 31 and is being held on $50,000 bail.

    On Sunday, "wanted" posters with Garcia- Gomez's picture had been ripped from light posts near Salon Ocampo.

    Ruben Huizar, owner of the hall, said people who were there Saturday night clapped and cheered when they heard about Garcia-Gomez's arrest.

    Huizar said Young had worked off-duty patrolling at Salon Ocampo for the past five years and that there was never a problem. Young was "like family" to Huizar and his wife Gloria.

    Young's widow, Kelly, said she was relieved to hear about the arrest.

    "My No. 1 concern is if he would perform this kind of an act on two police officers, he wouldn't think twice about doing this to someone who cut him off in traffic," she said.

    Even though Garcia-Gomez may be tried in Mexico, Young said she has faith he will be punished.

    "They don't want him on the streets either," she said.

    The arrest delighted Young's fellow officers.

    "It was great news - it was news everyone had been waiting to hear for a long time," Sgt. Dino Gavito said while working a security detail at the People's Fair in downtown Denver. "It'll be better news when he's in our jail."

    Extradition efforts - which had been initiated long before Garcia-Gomez's capture - are under way.

    Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey said within days of the shooting, prosecutors in his office began talking to the U.S. State Department about what needed to be done in case an arrest was made in Mexico.

    "We were in a position so that when they caught him, they could take him into custody," Morrissey said.
    "The defense of a nation begins at it's borders" Tancredo

  2. #2
    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
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    Good Article!!

    Keep us posted, tms!!

    Tell the family to sue the Mayor for a wrongful death suit. He provided the "means", "opportunity", and "motive".

    A Nation Without Borders Is Not A Nation - Ronald Reagan
    Save America, Deport Congress! - Judy

    Support our FIGHT AGAINST illegal immigration & Amnesty by joining our E-mail Alerts at https://eepurl.com/cktGTn

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