Thread: Suspect in cop's killing caught

http://rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local ... %2C00.html


Suspect in cop's killing caught
By Fernando Quintero, David Montero and Marilyn Robinson, Rocky Mountain News
June 4, 2005

An intensive, international manhunt for a suspect gunman accused of killing one Denver police detective and wounding another came to an end with the arrest Saturday evening of Raul Garcia-Gomez in Mexico.

Denver Police Chief Gerry Whitman said Garcia-Gomez, 19, was taken into custody at 6:10 p.m. MDT in Culiacan, Mexico, a town in the state of Sinaloa on the Pacific Coast near the resort city of Mazatlan. The FBI, U.S. Marshals and Mexican authorities worked together to make the arrest after receiving information that Garcia-Gomez might be staying with relatives on his father's side of the family.

Garcia-Gomez is suspected of shooting detectives Donald Young and John Bishop in the early morning hours of Sunday May 8. The two detectives were working security at a private baptismal party at which Garcia-Gomez attended. Young died from his injuries. Bishop survived, police say, because he was wearing a bulletproof vest.

A massive international manhunt from Denver to Las Vegas to Los Angeles and eventually Mexico had been going on for weeks since the shooting.

In addition to Garcia-Gomez, police have taken four others into custody in the United States, including a Denver man was arrested for accessory to first-degree murder. Jaime Arana del Angel will be formally charged on Monday, said District Attorney Mitch Morrissey.

Three people were arrested in Los Angeles and are being investigated on possible charges of harboring a fugitive, Whitman said. They are expected to remain jailed on immigration violations. The suspects there were identified Saturday evening as Garcia-Gomez's father, Mercedes Castaneda Gomez; his sister, Ayde Gomez; and Santiago Nicholas Hernandez, who police said is possibly the fugitive's uncle.

Authorities said Garcia-Gomez was arrested without incident after police went searching door-to-door for him. Whitman said the suspect had been "concealed" but declined to comment on what, if anything, he said when he was captured.

Garcia-Gomez was being held Saturday evening in a Mexican jail in Culiacan. He is expected to be moved to Mexico City sometime Sunday, where he will remain in custody of Mexican authorities. Morrisey said the process to determine where he will stand trial could be "long, complicated and laborious."

Garcia-Gomez's trial could be held in Denver or Mexico, although Mexico has a policy of not extraditing suspects for trials if the death penalty is possible. The District Attorney's Office is working with the State Department and Mexican authorities to determine the next step.

"There are only three options: One is to try and get him here from Mexico, two is to prosecute him in Mexico, and three would be to wait and see if he'd come back to the United States. Then we could proceed with making the determination of what would file on him and what the appropriate sentence we would seek. That decision hasn't been made."

Morrissey said seeking the death penalty was not an option because of Mexico's extradition policy. "Were going to negotiate what we can. I think its best to bring him back here and have him stand trial here. I've spoken with Donnie's widow and she agrees with me at this point," he said.

Whitman also reached out personally Saturday evening to Bishop to notify him of Garcia-Gomez's arrest.

Mayor John Hickenlooper, who attended the news conference Saturday evening where the arrests were announced, said he was relieved that the alleged cop killer had been caught.

"The entire city is relieved," he said. "This is the kind of event that takes on a symbolism beyond what any of us would have thought. This news is powerful to the city. Now it's time to bring this man to justice."

I'm so glad they caught the scum but hope he gets extradited back to the United States. By going to Mexico this guy has gotten himself out of at least getting the death penalty, which he deserves for the murder and attempted murder of the 2 police officers in Colorado.

But Mexico doesn't even want to return criminals if they are going to get life in prison anymore since they think that is too harsh a punishment. I heard they are openly violating a treaty we made with them years ago regarding murder suspects that flee to their country because of a Mexican Supreme Court ruling that decided a life term in prison is too severe for murder! The lack of enforcement of the extradition policy we have with Mexico involving murderers really angers me, and is another example how the Bush administration has little regard for United States citizens who are victims at the hands of illegal immigrants. We should really come down hard on Mexico for this practice.