Thread: AZ: Illegal immigrant arrested for firing AK-47

Illegal immigrant arrested for firing AK-47
by Eugene Scott and Elias C. Arnold - Apr. 6, 2008 06:26 PM
The Arizona Republic

Maricopa County sheriff's deputies arrested an illegal immigrant after he was suspected of firing an AK-47 while roaming the streets of East Mesa, officials said.

Abraham Duarte, 20, was first seen in an unincorporated area east of Apache Trail and Ellsworth Road, said Deputy Doug Matteson, a Maricopa County Sheriff's Office spokesman.

Officers believe the man fired the gun near residential structures, though his shots were thought to be random, Matteson said.
SWAT team members emptied two-thirds of an apartment complex just south of 95th Street and Apache Trail in search of the suspect.

Officers found Duarte in the building and took him into custody, officials said.

He was arrested three times in 2007 in Maricopa County.

Officials found information at the scene of arrest that led them to an apartment complex near Guadalupe and Ellsworth roads. They found an AK-47 on the roof of that apartment.

"He will be screened for his immigration status and he is facing multiple felony charges," Matteson said.

www.azcentral.com

Related article from the East Valley Tribune posted in red.

This incident began in my immediate neighborhood and where he was finally taken into custody is only 3 blocks away. We were getting ready to take the kids out for the afternoon when we heard two shots. Unfortunately, this is something we hear quite often with shots being fired from cars passing on Ellsworth and from the neighborhood across Ellsworth, but this was different. This sounded louder than usual, extremely close and even startled my husband who, after 20 years in the Army, and being an avid shooter, never bats an eye over this stuff. One of my younger boys was out playing with his cars on the porch at the time and was just running in the door as my 12 year old was running out to get him inside. He said it sounded like "a big echoey cracking boom". Next thing we knew, as we were leaving, the MCSO helicopter began circling our development, there were police all over the place, but we had no idea what was happening.

WHY was this individual still wandering our streets? My neighborhood? WHY was he even here to begin with?







Authorities nab east Mesa sniper suspect

Devon Hersom, Tribune
Authorities arrested a man they said fired a high-powered rifle into the air, the ground and surrounding areas Sunday in east Mesa.

Abraham Duarte, 20, was arrested in connection with discharging a weapon after authorities tracked him down to an apartment complex south of 95th Street and Apache Trail, said deputy Doug Matteson of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office.

Multiple 911 calls were placed around 11:30 a.m. and police responded to the area near the corner of Apache Trail and Ellsworth Road.

The sheriff's office joined Mesa police in tracking down the suspect, Matteson said.

No victims or injuries were reported as of late Sunday.

Duarte led authorities to another apartment near Ellsworth and Guadlupe roads where he had ditched a "cut-down AK-47" on the roof, Matteson said.

Ali Majed, an employee of a Chevron gas station near the incident, said he heard a loud noise while he was inside the store's cooler.

At Thunder Pass Food and Spirits, a nearby restaurant, manager Melissa Thiede didn't hear anything but she said a helicopter and police cars were in the area.

Thiede said the helicopter flying overhead had been circling for almost two hours.

[color=red]Approximately 40 police units were on the scene Sunday afternoon. Authorities created a containment area between 95th and 96th streets, Matteson said.

Duarte is expected to face multiple felony charges, Matteson said. He added that Duarte was in the country illegally

Tribune writer Mike Branom contributed to this report.


http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/113170



THIS is what happened to the nice, quiet, middle class neighborhood we moved into because we wanted our kids to grow up somewhere safe and pleasant. Nine years later and where are we? Living behind dark screens, blackout shades, and heavy drapes to avoid becoming targets in our own living room, eight foot fence with padlocked gates so no one can just walk up to the front or back doors, security cameras so we can see who is at the gate, and have kids who automatically hit the floor and crawl to the back of the house at the first sound of gunshots

THIS is the kind of stuff that goes on here, where I live, even though our neighborhood has been clearing out by leaps and bounds since the amnesty fell through last summer


THIS is the kind of people my boss filled his properties with having absolutely no idea who any of these people really are or what they might be capable of doing. That would be the same boss who is now making sure my life is a living hell because his poor business decisions and greed are putting a scratch in his $60 mil net worth but he's so clueless that he just "doesn't understand" why the place is emptying out and I couldn't get new tenants to move in here were I to drag them in kicking and screaming off the street.

And this is exactly why we are getting the hell out of here. When I think about the tragedy which could have happened here today....... with my own little guy being outside, so many families and little ones outside just enjoying a nice day, a few birthday parties and a christening which were just getting underway, even our rec hall was filled with people from a local church who were having a luncheon and would have had all the chance of fish in a barrel if that nut had decided to open fire on them.

It makes me sick even thinking about it