Mario Paz, a grandfather in Compton, CA (near LA) was killed during a SWAT team raid on the wrong house, in a case reminiscent in many ways of the Donald Scott case. Even after killing the man they seized the family's $10,000 life savings, which they had recently removed from the bank because of fears of Y2K bank collapse. This is an outrageous story. Please pass it around to other lists. > Pubdate: Thu, 26 Aug 1999 > Source: Los Angeles Times (CA) > Copyright: 1999 Los Angeles Times. > Contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Fax: (213) 237-4712 > Website: http://www.latimes.com/ > Forum: http://www.latimes.com/home/discuss/ > Author: Anne-Marie O'Connor, Times Staff Writer > > BEREFT FAMILY DISPUTES POLICE SHOOTING REPORT > > It was an hour before midnight when an El Monte police SWAT team, serving a > search warrant as part of a broad-ranging narcotics investigation, > undertook what it called the "high-risk entry" of a Compton home--shooting > the locks off the front and back doors. > > Their warrant, which named no one in the Paz home, says police expected to > find marijuana and cash belonging to a suspected member of a drug ring who > had allegedly used the house as a maildrop. They found no drugs, but in the > course of the search they shot a retired grandfather twice in the > back--killing him. > > The widow was hustled out of the house in nothing but panties, a towel and > plastic handcuffs. She and six others were later taken away and intensively > interrogated, but no one was charged. Ten thousand dollars in cash was > seized as evidence,along with a .22-caliber rifle and three pistols, > according to investigators for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. > The family said that the money was patriarch Mario Paz's life savings and > that he kept firearms for protection in the high-crime neighborhood. > > El Monte police, who obtained the search warrant and conducted the Aug. 9 > raid, said they were using standard procedure for dangerous places where > they fear officers will be fired on. A sheriff's investigator said the El > Monte officer shot Paz because he thought he was reaching for a > weapon--something Paz's widow, Maria Luisa, adamantly denies. > > Now the six children of Mario Paz--a grandfather of 14 who would have > turned 65 this week--are demanding to know why the police burst into the > home while the family was sleeping. And what were El Monte police doing in > Compton? > > The arrest warrant said the Paz home was considered high-risk because > high-powered rifles were found in a search of another home linked to the > suspect. And El Monte police say their aggressive anti-drug strategy > commonly prompts them to serve search warrants as far afield as Riverside, > San Diego and San Bernardino. > > "We go all over. Anything related to our town we go out and get," said El > Monte Police Sgt. Steve Krigbaum, the head of the force's Narcotics > Policing Division. > > "If we can show it directly impacts narco activity here, we'll go after > it," he said. > > Brian Dunn, the lawyer representing the Pazes, said the officers should > have known the family did not pose a threat. > > "They fired shotguns through doors and windows as people were sleeping," > Dunn said. "The tactics in this case were beyond merely reckless. I don't > think there's anything [the family] could have done to prevent [Mario Paz] > from getting killed. This was no different than a home invasion, in terms > of what happened to the family." > > 'It Was Like War,' Neighbor Says > > Family members said they believed that a robbery was in progress when they > heard the shooting. > > Sheriff's investigators say El Monte police shot the locks off the front > and back doors to the house, shot a "diversionary device" into a back > bedroom window that illuminated it, and threw a so-called flash-bang > grenade on the ground behind the house. Neighbors said they awoke with a > jolt when they heard the shooting. > > "It was like war," said Luz Escamilla, who lives next door. > > El Monte Police Lt. Craig Sperry, commander of the Special Emergency > Response Team that carried out the operation, said up to 20 El Monte > officers were involved in the raid. He said he could not comment on > specific tactics used that night because of the possibility of litigation. > He said Compton police, who have refused all comment, were also at the scene. > > However, Sperry said, "We always announce, 'El Monte police. Open the door.' " > > El Monte Assistant Police Chief Bill Ankeny said an explosive entry is a > standard SWAT procedure and can involve opening a door with a battering ram > or a round of gunfire. > > "We throw flash-bang grenades. We bust open the doors. You've seen it on > TV," Ankeny said. "We do bang on the door and make an announcement--'It's > the police'--but it kind of runs together. If you're sitting on the couch, > it would be difficult to get to the door before they knock it down." > > Sleeping on their couch, the Paz family said, was David Martinez, 63, a > convalescing friend. He was unhurt. > > Until the raid occurred, the family said, they had been resting after a > routine Monday. > > Maria Luisa Paz, 51, said her husband, a Mexican immigrant, had been driven > to Tijuana for doctor's appointments that morning. She showed a reporter > his purchases of medicine prescribed for his heart condition, prostate > ailment, and back problems from a 1985 on-the-job injury. > > She said he also emptied his Tijuana bank account of more than $10,000 in > savings, fearing that the money could be lost to the much-publicized > computer complications that some people are afraid will occur Jan. 1. She > showed a reporter the bank receipt for the withdrawal. > > Mario took his medicine at 8 p.m. and went to bed, she said. > > El Monte police showed up about 11 p.m., according to Sheriff's Lt. Marilyn > Baker, who is conducting the standard investigation into the > officer-involved shooting. Myrna Serrano, 44, a friend of the family who > lives in a converted garage at the front of the house, said she awoke to > gunfire. > > "I didn't even hear them say they were police," said Serrano, an employee > at an art frame factory. "I thought they were thieves coming to rob us. I > never dreamed they would be police busting into the house in camouflage and > hoods." > > Maria Argueta, who works as a nanny in Manhattan Beach, awoke in a back > bedroom to the flash-bang grenade and screamed, "Don't kill me," the family > said. > > By that time, Maria Luisa Paz said, she may have heard officers yelling > "search warrant," but "I had no idea who they were. They didn't show badges > or anything at all. I yelled to my husband, 'Get on the ground! We're being > robbed.' " > > She said she got on the floor in her panties while her husband got his > $10,000 from under the bed and put the money and his hands on the bed. > > At this point, Sheriff's Lt. Baker said, two El Monte officers entered > Mario and Maria Luisa's bedroom while six others searched the rest of the > house. > > Conflicting Accounts of Patriarch's Actions > > The officers said they ordered the couple--in Spanish and English--to show > their hands, according to Baker. The lieutenant said Mario Paz "appeared to > be reaching for something, and believing him to be arming himself, the > officer fired two rounds . . . striking Mr. Paz in the back." > > His widow described the scene differently: > > "They yelled and yelled. I said, 'My husband is sick! He's an old man!' I > grabbed [the officer's] leg," she recalled. "[The officer] just pointed the > gun at my husband and shot." > > She said the officer, wearing a mask, "just looked at me." Then another > officer came in and ordered her in Spanish to "get up and put something > on," she said. > > As police hustled her outside, someone handed her a towel that she draped > across her chest. > > Sheriff's investigators said two of the pistols were in a drawer on the > floor near Mario and a third was in a bureau drawer with the rifle. > > Maria Luisa was allowed to dress before she was put into a mini-van, where > she found that her great-nephew, Juan Carlos Mechaca, had been handcuffed > when he got home from practicing with his band. His mother, Leonela Ramos, > Mario Paz's niece, had been detained when she got home from her night shift > at a credit card factory. Maria Luisa's son Jorge, 20, a computer drafter > for a Norwalk firm who had been in another bedroom when the raid occurred, > was also handcuffed. Altogether, seven people were taken to the Compton > Police Department for questioning by El Monte police and Los Angeles County > sheriff's investigators. > > Though they stayed until dawn, the Paz family said they were never read > their rights. Sheriff's Lt. Baker said that was because the family was not > under arrest--they were detained as witnesses to the shooting. > > "They were not [detained as] suspects," Baker said. "They were taken in as > witnesses to the officer-involved shooting. Witnesses do not get read their > Miranda rights. People can be detained in handcuffs for safekeeping." > > But Jorge Paz said one sheriff's investigator "asked if my dad sold drugs > or ever had a problem with anybody. I said, 'No, no.' My dad didn't even > want us to smoke or drink. He wanted us all to go to school. He was a good > man." > > The drug suspect named in the warrant is Marcos Beltran Lizarraga. The Paz > family said that he lived next door in the early 1980s, that Mario sold him > a car six years or so ago and that he occasionally used the Pazes' mailing > address. The family said that they sometimes would mark the mail "return to > sender" but that on other occasions their father gave it to Beltran's nephew. > > Mario Paz was pronounced dead at 11:29 p.m. at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew > Medical Center, according to the county coroner's office. > > At the time he died, he was planning to sell his house and move to > Colorado, according to Mario Paz Jr, 31, a computer operations supervisor > for the Denver office of a California HMO. > > "This was a real shock," he said. > > El Monte Assistant Chief Ankeny said his department has begun an internal > investigation. He said two officers were placed on routine administrative > leave after the shooting but have since returned to work. > > "Obviously, the officer who killed the person actually felt he was being > threatened," he said. > > John Bellizzi, director of the International Narcotics Enforcement Assn. in > Albany, N.Y., said surprise is an essential element in getting evidence for > SWAT team raids. Because of the danger of fighting drug dealers, officers > "have to take serious precautions to safeguard their lives, and sometimes > unforeseen things happen. It's unavoidable sometimes. These drug dealers > are better equipped sometimes than the police are." > > But David Lynn, a private investigator assigned to the case, said: "Even if > this guy was the 'Godfather,' that would not justify the level of violence > used in this search." > __________________________________________________________________________ > Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in > receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. > --- > > > > -THE KUBBY FILES- > http://www.kubby.com To unsubscribe, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] with this in the body: UNSUBSCRIBE FEAR-list
