Whats up With Gomez (lets kill a cop)Garcia?
The man suspected of fatally shooting a police detective in Denver is an illegal alien, police said yesterday.
Cops say Raul Garcia-Gomez, 19, is an illegal alien who used false documentation to get a job at the Cherry Cricket restaurant, which is co-owned by Mayor John Hickenlooper, the Rocky Mountain News reported.
According to the local report, Lee Driscoll, the mayor's business partner,said that the company learned in April Garcia-Gomez provided the restaurant with two forms of identification, but the Social Security number he provided turned out to be false.
"I learned that he worked for the restaurant when I got a call from the general manager ... who said the police were questioning people," Driscoll told the paper. "He worked as a dishwasher. He worked for us about 10 months. He looked like a stellar employee from what I can determine from his file."
The restaurant is owned in part by Hickenlooper, but the mayor reportedly is not involved in day-to-day operations at the Cherry Cricket.
"Certainly, in the restaurant business everyone is like family," Hickenlooper is quoted as saying. "It's stunning to believe someone a part of the family could commit such a heinous crime."
Cherry Cricket managers told police that Garcia-Gomez presented a resident-alien card when he applied for the job, according to a police source close to the investigation.
"You could see that this card was fake," the police source told the Rocky Mountain News. The card was falling apart and typewritten, the sources said.
U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., blasted the Hickenlooper administration's handling of the case, saying federal immigration officials should have been contacted after each of three traffic citations issued to Garcia-Gomez in Denver because police could not confirm his legal status.
"Denver's sanctuary policy prevents local law enforcement from cooperating with federal officials on immigration matters, despite federal law which explicitly prohibits such a policy," Tancredo said in a news release.
The congressman also questioned whether or not the Cherry Cricket had done enough to verify Garcia-Gomez's legal status when he was hired.
Sandra Rivas, Garcia-Gomez's girlfriend says he made a bedside confession to her just hours after the shooting, Denver's CBS TV affiliate reported. Rivas says she hoped to marry the suspect, who is the father of her 3-week-old daughter.
Garcia-Gomez is described as a Hispanic male, 5-foot-6, 150 pounds, with short shaved dark brown hair, brown eyes, thin mustache and a tattoo on his left hand.
Denver Police Chief Gerry Whitman said Garcia-Gomez, 19, was taken into custody at 6:10 p.m. MDT, June 4th 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.
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 in a Mexican jail in Culiacan. He is expected to be moved to Mexico City sometime, 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.
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.
Mayor John Hickenlooper, who attended the news conference 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."
[OK THAT WAS IN JUNE IT IS NOW AUGUST. WHY ISN'T THIS MURDERER BEING TRIED? HE IS STILL IN MEXICO BEING HARBOURED BY THE MEXICAN GOVERNMENT THAT IS WHY. WHEN WILL POLITICAL PRESSURE BE APPLIED TO GET THIS PUNK BACK IN COURT.IT WON'T CERTAIN POWERS THAT BE ARE HOPEING THAT THIS WILL FADE AND GO AWAY. SOOOOORRRRRRRYYYY! IT WON'T GO AWAY. JUSTICE IS WAITING TO BE SERVED. IT IS BAD ENOUGH THAT COLORADO, AND DENVER PROSECUTERS CAVED TO MEXICAN DEMANDS OF NO DEATH PENALTY FOR A PUNK WHO COMMITTED AND EXECUTION OF A POLICE OFFICER. BUT TO NOT BE ACTIVELY PURSUEING A WAY TO BRING THIS LITTLE RAGMUFFIN PISSANT TO JUSTICE IS DISGUSTING]
Cops say Raul Garcia-Gomez, 19, is an illegal alien who used false documentation to get a job at the Cherry Cricket restaurant, which is co-owned by Mayor John Hickenlooper, the Rocky Mountain News reported.
According to the local report, Lee Driscoll, the mayor's business partner,said that the company learned in April Garcia-Gomez provided the restaurant with two forms of identification, but the Social Security number he provided turned out to be false.
"I learned that he worked for the restaurant when I got a call from the general manager ... who said the police were questioning people," Driscoll told the paper. "He worked as a dishwasher. He worked for us about 10 months. He looked like a stellar employee from what I can determine from his file."
The restaurant is owned in part by Hickenlooper, but the mayor reportedly is not involved in day-to-day operations at the Cherry Cricket.
"Certainly, in the restaurant business everyone is like family," Hickenlooper is quoted as saying. "It's stunning to believe someone a part of the family could commit such a heinous crime."
Cherry Cricket managers told police that Garcia-Gomez presented a resident-alien card when he applied for the job, according to a police source close to the investigation.
"You could see that this card was fake," the police source told the Rocky Mountain News. The card was falling apart and typewritten, the sources said.
U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., blasted the Hickenlooper administration's handling of the case, saying federal immigration officials should have been contacted after each of three traffic citations issued to Garcia-Gomez in Denver because police could not confirm his legal status.
"Denver's sanctuary policy prevents local law enforcement from cooperating with federal officials on immigration matters, despite federal law which explicitly prohibits such a policy," Tancredo said in a news release.
The congressman also questioned whether or not the Cherry Cricket had done enough to verify Garcia-Gomez's legal status when he was hired.
Sandra Rivas, Garcia-Gomez's girlfriend says he made a bedside confession to her just hours after the shooting, Denver's CBS TV affiliate reported. Rivas says she hoped to marry the suspect, who is the father of her 3-week-old daughter.
Garcia-Gomez is described as a Hispanic male, 5-foot-6, 150 pounds, with short shaved dark brown hair, brown eyes, thin mustache and a tattoo on his left hand.
Denver Police Chief Gerry Whitman said Garcia-Gomez, 19, was taken into custody at 6:10 p.m. MDT, June 4th 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.
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 in a Mexican jail in Culiacan. He is expected to be moved to Mexico City sometime, 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.
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.
Mayor John Hickenlooper, who attended the news conference 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."
[OK THAT WAS IN JUNE IT IS NOW AUGUST. WHY ISN'T THIS MURDERER BEING TRIED? HE IS STILL IN MEXICO BEING HARBOURED BY THE MEXICAN GOVERNMENT THAT IS WHY. WHEN WILL POLITICAL PRESSURE BE APPLIED TO GET THIS PUNK BACK IN COURT.IT WON'T CERTAIN POWERS THAT BE ARE HOPEING THAT THIS WILL FADE AND GO AWAY. SOOOOORRRRRRRYYYY! IT WON'T GO AWAY. JUSTICE IS WAITING TO BE SERVED. IT IS BAD ENOUGH THAT COLORADO, AND DENVER PROSECUTERS CAVED TO MEXICAN DEMANDS OF NO DEATH PENALTY FOR A PUNK WHO COMMITTED AND EXECUTION OF A POLICE OFFICER. BUT TO NOT BE ACTIVELY PURSUEING A WAY TO BRING THIS LITTLE RAGMUFFIN PISSANT TO JUSTICE IS DISGUSTING]
