This is what happens when the federal government shirks its responsibilities in enforcing America’s immigration laws, resulting in an effectively “open” and therefore meaningless border.
Don Thompson reports for the AP, Oct. 26, 2014, that 34-year-old Marcelo Marquez of Salt Lake City, suspected of killing two deputies during a shooting rampage in Northern California, is an illegal alien from Mexico with a drug conviction who had twice been deported back to Mexico.
The shootings began when Sacramento County sheriff’s Deputy Danny Oliver, 47, was shot in the forehead with an assault rifle at close range as he checked out a suspicious car in a motel parking lot. After killing Oliver, the gunman shot Anthony Holmes, 38, of Sacramento at least twice, including once in the head, during an attempted carjacking.
Oliver, a 15-year veteran of the department, left a wife and two daughters. Holmes is in fair condition.
The attackers then stole a pickup truck and fled about 30 miles northeast into neighboring Placer County. Two deputies who approached the pickup while it was parked alongside a road were shot with an AR-15-type assault weapon and never had a chance to return fire, Placer County sheriff’s spokeswoman Dena Erwin said.
Homicide Detective Michael David Davis Jr., 42, died at a hospital 26 years to the day after his father, for whom he was named, died in the line of duty as a Riverside County deputy.
Deputy Jeff Davis was treated for a gunshot wound to the arm. The two deputies are not related.
The gunman fled into a neighborhood near a high school and ran into a home. Police used tear gas to force him to surrender.
The suspected shooter told Sacramento County Sheriff’s investigators that he was Marcelo Marquez. However, his fingerprints match the biometric records of a Luis Enrique Monroy-Bracamonte in a federal database, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Virginia Kice said.
Kice said Monroy-Bracamonte was first removed from the country in 1997 after being convicted in Arizona for possession of narcotics for sale. In 2001, he was arrested and repatriated to Mexico a second time.
Monroy-Bracamonte is being held without bail on suspicion of two counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder and two counts of carjacking. A request has been made to California local authorities to turn Monroy-Bracamonte over to federal custody after his case is adjudicated so ICE can purse his deportation.
Luis Enrique Monroy-Bracamonte (l) and his Mexican pride tattoo (r)
Monroy-Bracamonte’s wife, 38-year-old Janelle Marquez Monroy, was also in custody on suspicion of attempted murder and carjacking after the attack on Friday that left two deputies dead and two other victims wounded.
Investigators spent Saturday at the multiple crime scenes “trying to kind of sort through the chaos so we can methodically rebuild this,” Placer County Sheriff Ed Bonner said. The suspects have talked to investigators, but what sparked the shootings remained unclear. Bonner said, “‘Why,’ I guess, will remain a question for a long time. Why was his reaction so violent?” It was also unclear what brought the heavily armed suspects from Utah to California.
Several dozen law enforcement vehicles, with lights silently flashing, escorted a hearse carrying Michael Davis’ flag-draped casket to a funeral home as bystanders and law enforcement officials hugged, saluted and wiped away tears.
“It’s a nightmare for all of us,” Bonner said, and recalled Davis as a well-liked investigator who once took it upon himself to organize a funeral for an abandoned baby. “He saw it, his heart ached, and he did something about it,” Bonner said. “That’s who he was.”
H/t FOTM reader Terry.
~Eowyn
