6:11 PM, Dec 27, 2012

Written by
David Robinson
pressconnects.com

BINGHAMTON — Roberto Garcia, who was fatally shot early Tuesday morning after he fired a handgun at Binghamton police, would have faced a felony for possessing the weapon, federal immigration officials said.

As an illegal alien released from federal custody while awaiting deportation to Cuba, Garcia, 20, was prohibited from possessing a firearm and, if caught by law enforcement, would have faced a maximum 10-year sentence in prison, said Khaalid Walls, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Two city police officers approached Garcia and another man Tuesday on the Memorial Bridge around 2:30 a.m. Garcia then fired a handgun at a female officer, striking her in the ear, before turning around and running away while shooting back at the officers, police said.

Both officers shot back, firing a combined eight times, and Garcia suffered two fatal gunshot wounds in the back and head, though police believe the one to the head was self-inflicted and accidental. The female officer has been released from the hospital, and police have yet to determine who owned the gun used by Garcia.

In July, Garcia, who was a former lawful U.S. resident living in Binghamton since age 4, was facing deportation to Cuba after being convicted of seven misdemeanors, including one assault.

Because the Cuban government refused to grant the deportation, Garcia was eventually released from federal custody in November under an “order of supervision,” which Walls described as a parole-type scenario.

Walls said Garcia was released because a U.S. Supreme Court decision — Zadvydas v. Davis in 2001 — generally prohibits the “long-term detention of aliens.”

When deportation is not likely in the “reasonably foreseeable” future, ICE is required to release aliens while attempting to proceed with deportation efforts, Walls said.

Garcia was complying with the required periodic reports to ICE officials before the recent shooting incident in Binghamton, Walls said, adding the program does not require local law enforcement officials be notified.

“There is no system in place that would notify local law enforcement,” he said.

Binghamton Police Chief Joseph Zikuski, who did not respond to an interview request Thursday, has refused to identify the two officers involved, citing death threats that have been made and Garcia’s possible affiliation with local gangs.

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