Pima County Marine Veteran Murdered By SWAT Team by William Grigg

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Jose Guerena served the Empire abroad; the Regime killed him in his home

May 11, 2011 — Jose Guerena survived two combat tours of Iraq, only to become a casualty of the Regime's longest war — the one waged against its domestic subjects in the name of drug prohibition. The former Marine was slaughtered by a SWAT team during a May 5 assault on his home in Arizona.

Guerena's wife, Vanessa, heard a noise outside the couple's home near Tucson at about 9 AM. Jose, who had just gone to bed after pulling a 12-hour shift at the Asarco Mine, suspected — correctly, as it turned out — that his family was threatened by an armed criminal gang. Grabbing his AR-15, Guerena instructed his wife and four-year-old son to hide in the closet while he confronted the intruders. According to Mrs. Guerena, the storm troopers from the Pima County Regional SWAT team never identified themselves as police; they simply stormed into the home and started shooting.

“I saw this guy pointing me at the window, Vanessa recalled in a television interview. “So, I got scared. And, I got like, 'Please don't shoot, I have a baby.' I put my baby [down]. [And I] put bag in window. And, I yell 'Jose! Jose! Wake up!'”

“A deputy's bullet struck the side of the doorway, causing chips of wood to fall on his shield,” recounts the Arizona Daily Star, paraphrasing an account provided by Pima County Sheriff's Office (PCSO) functionary Michael O'Connor. “That prompted some members of the team to think the deputy had been shot.” Guerna never fired a shot; the marauders who invaded his home fired no fewer than seventy-one. As is standard procedure in such events, the invaders claimed that Guerna had fired on the officers, as he had every moral and legal right to.

Neither Jose nor his wife had a criminal history of any kind. The attack on their home was described as a narcotics enforcement operation, but there are no reports that narcotics were found at the residence — even though the invaders reportedly “seized” (that is, stole) something that belonged to the victim.

“Tucson is notorious for home invasions and we didn't want it to look like that,” insisted Pima County Sheriff's Office (PSCO) spokesman O'Connor, exhibiting the dull-witted refusal to acknowledge the obvious that typifies tax-feeders of his station. He also maintained that the death squad “went lights and sirens and we absolutely did not do a `no-knock' warrant,” a claim refuted by the only surviving witness, Vanessa Guerena. Such details are morally inconsequential, since there was no reason — apart from the institutional vanity of the PCSO and the indecent eagerness of the armored adolescents who compose its SWAT team — to conduct a paramilitary raid to serve a routine search warrant.

“I never imagined I would lose him like that, he was badly injured but I never thought he could be killed by police after he served his country,” lamented the wife of the murdered ex-Marine, who died on his feet, a rifle in his hand, and his face to an unexpected enemy. The grim but unavoidable truth is this: We shouldn't be at all surprised that a Regime capable of sending Americans abroad to terrorize Iraqis in their homes would employ the same state terrorism against Americans here at home.

The murder of Jose Guerena, continued

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May 12, 2011 — The SWAT team that murdered Iraq War veteran Jose Guerena in his home near Tucson kept a medical team waiting for more than an hour as the 26-year-old father bled to death, and then “sent them away,” reports Tucson ABC affiliate KGUN.

Jose's wife Vanessa called 911 after seeing a knot of armed men approaching her home. She insists that the assailants never identified themselves as police. After waking up her husband — who had just finished the graveyard shift at a local mine — Vanessa hid in a closet with their four-year-old son. Jose grabbed his AR-15 and confronted the invaders, who burst through the door and started shooting. The intruders fired a total of 71 shots. The assailants initially claimed that Jose had fired on them — an entirely appropriate response to a criminal invasion of his home — but later admitted that the husband and father was killed before he could pull the trigger.

After the fatal fusillade, Vanessa pleaded with the SWAT team to call for medical assistance; rather than doing so, they held help at bay until their victim was dead, supposedly in the interest of “security.”

KGUN “requested the emergency call records for Drexel Heights Fire Rescue. The 911 call center notified Drexel Heights at 9:43 AM. A unit arrived just two minutes later at 9:45. But deputies told rescue workers to stay put. That's standard to be sure they won't walk into danger. But they waited until 10:59. Then heard the radio call `Code 900,' that means they were no longer needed because the person was dead. One hour and 14 minutes went by. Drexel Heights indicates they were never allowed to even examine Jose Guerena.”

The home invasion was supposedly intended to enforce a search warrant in a narcotics investigation. Neither Jose nor Vanessa has a criminal history, and no narcotics were found at the home.

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Added May 12, 2011

Last modified 6/29/24