Thread: Man accused of killing Denver detective testifies at trial

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/ ... 4-01-44-04

Sep 14, 1:44 AM EDT

Man accused of killing Denver detective testifies at trial

DENVER (AP) -- A man accused of killing an off-duty detective working a security job testified Wednesday that he fired shots after he was roughed up by one of two officers outside a party and then taunted by friends about the incident.

Raul Gomez-Garcia, 20, took the stand and demonstrated how Detective Donald Young grabbed him by the throat and arm and held him over railing as the officers turned Gomez-Garcia and other men away from the social hall hosting a baptismal party.

Gomez-Garcia said he and his friends went to a pool hall afterward.

"They started to tell me why I let him do that to me," Gomez-Garcia testified through an interpreter. "They were making fun of me and asking, `aren't you going to do anything?' So then I told them I was going to come back to shoot the police officer."

Gomez-Garcia, an illegal immigrant, faces charges of second-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and assault in the May 2005 death of Young and wounding of his partner, Detective John "Jack" Bishop.

During his testimony, Gomez-Garcia demonstrated how he held up the gun to fire at the officers, shooting Bishop first and Young second. Young's widow, Kelly Young, gasped and wept during his testimony on the sixth day of trial.

"I thought I had not done anything to him (Young) so I fired one or two more shots," Gomez-Garcia said.

Gomez-Garcia, speaking quietly in court, testified that he told friend he wanted to shoot the officers, not kill them.

"I also said that I wanted to embarrass them, just like they embarrassed me," he said, later adding: "I said if they have a bulletproof vest, nothing is going to happen to them, just maybe a bruise and a mark."

He said his father, who was a Mexican police officer, told him that wearing a bulletproof vest was mandatory. Young was not wearing a bulletproof vest.

But earlier Wednesday, Mexican and U.S. law enforcement officials said that when they arrested Gomez-Garcia in Mexico weeks after the shooting, his first questions were about the shooting.

"He wanted to know which of the two officers died - the bigger one or the smaller one," said Jose Chavarria, a senior inspector for the U.S. Marshals Service. "He said he hoped it was the bigger one (Young) because that was the one that choked him."

Gomez-Garcia is expected to continue his testimony on Thursday.

Perfect example of an arrogant low-life scum.....what was he doing? Bragging about it??