Marine Never Fired At Officers Who Fatally Shot Him

Photo: CNN

Jose Guerena was shot up to 60 times by five police officers. There was nothing illegal in the house.

​A United States Marine who died in a flurry of bullets in a botched drug raid near Tucson, Arizona, never fired on the SWAT team that stormed his house, according to a new report from the Pima County Sheriff’s Department.

The revelation added to national outrage over the death of Jose Guerena, who died May 5 after a SWAT team descended on his home with a search warrant, reports Chuck Conder at CNN. Guerena’s home was 0one of four that police claimed were “associated with a drug smuggling operation” in the area.

A video released Thursday by the sheriff’s department showed the SWAT team showing up with sirens on, banging on the front door, kicking the door in, and opening fire upon entering the home.

Officers fired more than 70 shots, according to the investigation. Deputies claimed they opened fire after Guerena, 26, “gestered at them” with a semiautomatic AR-15 rifle.

Some of the officers claimed they believed that Guerena fired on them, but the investigation showed no shots were fired from the weapon and it was never taken off the safety position.

Initial news reports indicated that Guerena had been struck by more than 60 bullets. According to CNN, an initial report from the medical examiner details 22 bullet wounds.

A lawyer representing the deputies defended their actions in slaughtering Guerena.

“If you are faced with that type of deadly threat, you’re allowed to respond,” he said.

Guerena served in Iraq and was discharged from the Marines five years sago. He was working for a Tucson area mining company.

A search of the home after the shooting revealed nothing illegal.

The five deputies who shot Guerena remain on active, paid duty. No criminal charges have been filed. There hasn’t even been any disciplinary action.

Up in Smoke: Can Marijuana Users Pack Heat?

It’s an only-in-America, constitutional mash-up: gun rights and medical marijuana on the same bill!

That’s right, an Oregon case tackles an issue that, we suppose, had to be addressed at some point: Can medical marijuana users carry concealed guns?

Here’s the story, courtesy of AP.

Cynthia Wills, 54, has a medical marijuana permit to treat arthritis and muscle spasms. She also has a permit to carry a concealed handgun.

Oregon police, AP reports, have tried to take away Willis’s gun, prompting Willis to fire back with a lawsuit, joined by three co-plaintiffs. The case is pending in the Oregon Supreme Court.

“Under the medical marijuana law, I am supposed to be treated as any other citizen in this state,” said Willis, a retired school bus driver whose gun of choice is a Walther P-22. “If people don’t stand up for their little rights, all their big rights will be gone.”

State sheriffs, according to AP, say that federal gun laws prohibit firearm sales to drug addicts, a term that includes medical marijuana users, they contend.

“The whole medical marijuana issue is a concern to sheriffs across the country . . . because there is so much potential for abuse or for misuse and as a cover for organized criminal activity,” Washington County Sheriff Rob Gordon told AP.

Gordon’s office rejected three medical marijuana patients in the Portland suburbs who applied for concealed handgun permits.

If Willis loses, she plans to carry her pistol out in the open, in a holster on her hip, which is legal under Oregon law, according to AP.

“I’ve been done harm in my life and it won’t ever happen again,” she said, explaining why she carries a gun.