Thread: Rancher may have died aiding immigrant or vendeta?

Rancher may have died aiding immigrant
File: Krentz radioed for person 'in need of help'
by Dennis Wagner - Jun. 16, 2010 12:00 AM

BISBEE - The murder this spring of southern Arizona rancher Robert Krentz fueled a nationwide political furor over border violence, security and illegal immigration. His death also became a crucial factor in the debate over and passage of Senate Bill 1070, Arizona's controversial new immigration law.

Now, it appears that Krentz was trying to assist an illegal immigrant when he was shot and killed March 27.

About 10 a.m. that day, Krentz radioed his brother and asked him to contact authorities because he was with an immigrant "in need of help," according to a Cochise County Sheriff's Office's homicide investigative file. The file says several people heard that transmission.

The file was released Tuesday in response to a public-records request by The Arizona Republic, as well as a letter by the paper's lawyer, demanding that the office make the public documents available for inspection.

The file was heavily redacted, with all details about evidence blacked out. It sheds no new light on what happened to Krentz. But it does offer a more detailed timeline of events that day.

According to the file, Krentz's call to his brother was the last time anyone heard from the 58-year-old cowboy.

At 6:45 p.m., his wife phoned authorities, who began a search of the ranch near the Chiricahua Mountains. Krentz's body was spotted by a Department of Public Safety helicopter shortly before midnight, about 35 miles northeast of Douglas. He was lying next to his all-terrain vehicle, his wounded dog Blue in the back.

The ATV was still running, and Blue, who was shot during the attack on Krentz, was still trying to defend him, according to the homicide investigative file.

Though authorities made no arrests and have no suspects, Krentz's slaying was instantly attributed to drug smugglers. Repercussions were felt almost immediately from Phoenix, where lawmakers approved a controversial new immigration bill, to Washington, D.C., where politicians cited the slaying in their calls for increased border security.

According to the homicide file, investigators found one set of footprints near a stock tank on Krentz's ranch. The prints lead to the ATV Krentz was riding, where they are joined by dog prints. Tire treads show rapid acceleration, and footprints leading from that spot head south. Investigators traced the footprints about 20 miles south, losing them about a mile from the border.

Deputies said Krentz managed to drive 1,100 feet after he was shot.

According to the homicide report, there are no known witnesses.

The day before Krentz was shot, his brother, Phil Krentz, had spotted marijuana smugglers on the family's ranch and notified the Border Patrol. Agents seized 200 pounds of contraband. They also arrested eight undocumented immigrants in the area.

After the shooting, ranchers in southeastern Arizona's drug-smuggling corridor condemned the U.S. government for failing to protect them and their lands. Their complaints were picked up by politicians, bloggers and anti-immigration advocates.

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., sent a letter to President Barack Obama, asking for deployment of the National Guard. "This cold-blooded murder is a sober reminder that the safety of U.S. citizens on American soil is under attack," she wrote.

Republican Arizona Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl also called for the Guard to be sent in, as did Republican Gov. Jan Brewer.

Obama announced last month that he would send 1,200 troops to the southwestern border.

Krentz's death also became a crucial factor in the passage of Senate Bill 1070, Arizona's controversial illegal-immigration law, which makes it a state crime to be in the country illegally. It states that an officer engaged in a lawful stop, detention or arrest shall, when practicable, ask about a person's legal status when reasonable suspicion exists that the person is in the U.S. illegally.

Supporters of the measure carried signs and wore buttons in honor of the fallen rancher as they lobbied the Legislature. Two weeks after the shooting, Arizona's House of Representatives approved the statute. Brewer signed the bill 10 days later, setting off a nationwide debate about immigration enforcement, border security and racial profiling.

Former Congressman J.D. Hayworth, now a U.S. Senate candidate, described Krentz as "a martyr for this cause," a symbol of efforts to combat illegal immigration and border violence.

Krentz, regarded as a soft-spoken leader among southern Arizona ranchers, had complained publicly about damage done to his fences and water systems by illegal immigrants.


Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepubli ... z0r4SwQa8X

It has been OVER two weeks since Obama PROMISED to have 1,200 National Guard down in Arizona on the border -- WHERE ARE THEY??????


Email Obama at:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/

DEMAND TROOPS ON THE BORDER NOW!!!!!!!

No doubt this rancher helped illegal aliens. Many say that is what he did, even though he wanted protections too.

God will have the last word and punishment for anyone who murders another.

Incidentally, the translation of God's Commandment that say "Thou shalt not kill" is really "Thou shalt not MURDER".

The correct translation of "murder", in essence, means to "lay in waiting to take someone's life".

Which doesn't mean literally laying in waiting, but rather "with the purpose of taking someone's life", and certainly not in times of war and/or for self defense.

With this in mind, it makes the demonstrators that say things like "God hates America's military" and the like look like fools who have never read God's Word or tried to study it even under minute terms.

Move to NEW Section for "Americans Killed by Illegals."