U.S. Army soldier among three arrested in killing of informant in El Paso

By Daniel Borunda
El Paso Times
Posted: Tuesday, 08/11/2009

EL PASO - A U.S. Army soldier is one of three men facing murder charges in the killing of a Juárez cartel member who was a government informant.

The soldier was in a camouflage uniform as he and two other men were escorted by homicide detectives and uniformed officers out of El Paso Police Headquarters shortly before 1 a.m. today to be booked into the El Paso County Jail.

The handcuffed men walked out quietly. One of them shook his head no when asked if he had anything to say. Another tried to hide his face from a video camera.

The soldier was transported in the back seat of a patrol car while the other two men were driven away in the back of a sedan.

Names of the arrested were not immediately available early this morning but are expected to be released later today.

The three are accused of killing Jose Daniel Gonzalez Galeana, who was shot eight times the night of May 15 as he walked up to the front of his upscale home in the 1300 block of Pony Trail Place on the East Side.

Gonzalez, 37, ran a trucking business and was a midlevel member of the Juárez drug cartel working as a government informant. A motive for the killing had not been released but police had previously said it was believed to be drug related.

Detectives with the Crimes Against Persons Unit assisted by other officers took the men into custody early Monday in an investigation that didn't end until past midnight.

The Gonzalez homicide is the first suspected cartel-related killing in El Paso since a war among drug suppliers erupted in Juárez last year.

Further details on the case were not immediately available because the men had not been booked into jail.

Daniel Borunda may be reached at dborunda@elpasotimes.com; 546-6102.

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