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By Mackenzie Shuman, José-Ignacio Castañeda Perez and Nicole Ludden
Howard Center for Investigative Journalism
Agents from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), a division of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, have killed, wounded or injured at least 16 people in shootings nationwide, most occurring in 2018-19, according to a review by the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism. Arizona had the most agent-involved shootings, but cases were also reported in at least eight other states. Most of the victims were black, Hispanic or Native American. No agent was charged in any of the shootings. Howard Center reporters pieced together details of the shootings using government records, obtained under public information requests, as well as court documents, lawsuits and interviews.
Daniel Noriega
Anaheim, California
Dec. 1, 2011
HSI agent Justin Wiessner shot at Daniel Noriega shortly after he dropped off his girlfriend’s son near the Westmont Elementary School in Anaheim, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office and a lawsuit Noriega filed against the agent.
Agents were looking for a drug-trafficking fugitive who was the ex-boyfriend of Noriega’s girlfriend and whose last known address matched Noriega’s current address, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office said in a letter. Agents watching the residence saw Noriega leave with a child on the morning of the shooting and followed him.
Noriega drove to a Walmart parking lot near the school, where the child got out, according to the letter, which was sent to the Los Angeles office of the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general.
Agents told local investigators that they could not properly identify Noriega because he was wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses. So they stopped Noriega to see whether he was the fugitive they sought, the letter said.
Wiessner drove his unmarked Chevrolet Impala in front of Noriega’s SUV and ultimately fired one shot through his windshield, the district attorney’s letter said. Noriega, who was not injured, fled and called 911 from a local gas station.
Wiessner later told Anaheim police he shot at Noriega because Noriega was trying to “intentionally ram his car” into the agent’s car, the district attorney’s review found. Wiessner said he fired in Noriega’s direction because he did not have enough time to get out of his car to stop him.
Noriega denied trying to ram Wiessner’s car and said he fled, fearing for his life, according to the letter. Noriega was not charged with any offense, though HSI agents did arrest and threaten him “with criminal prosecution for attempted murder of an ICE agent” and searched his car and home without a warrant, according to the federal civil rights lawsuit.
Another agent, who was behind Noriega’s car at the time of the shooting, told investigators he did not see Noriega’s vehicle “make any kind of movement to ram Agent Wiessner’s vehicle, although he only had a peripheral view of the incident,” the review found.
During the shooting, the Westmont Elementary School was placed on lockdown for more than 20 minutes, according to the Anaheim Police Department’s incident report.
The district attorney concluded there was insufficient evidence to support either Wiessner’s or Noriega’s account, but referred the case to the Homeland Security “for any investigation that they deem necessary and/or appropriate.” In 2015, Noriega settled a lawsuit against the agent. The settlement amount was undisclosed, according to a notice filed with the court.
The Orange County Register reported that it had obtained a recording of an Anaheim police officer discussing the shooting at the time with a local dispatcher and characterizing it as “all FUBAR through ICE.” FUBAR is military slang for “(messed) up beyond all recognition.”
Ademar Rojas-Orellana
Lakewood, Washington
June 5, 2013
HSI agent Steven Munson shot Ademar Rojas-Orellana during an early evening drug sting in the Tacoma suburb of Lakewood, a Lakewood Police Department incident report said.
Rojas-Orellana was a suspect in a federal investigation into alleged heroin distribution, according to a federal complaint and subsequent indictment.
A confidential informant working with law enforcement had set up a $40,000 heroin buy that was to have occurred the day of the shooting, according to a formal statement Munson gave to police six days after the shooting.
But after speaking briefly with the informant, Rojas-Orellana got back into his black Ford Mustang and drove away, Munson said. Agents from HSI and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration followed, and when Rojas-Orellena stopped at an intersection, they positioned their unmarked vehicles to block him from moving forward.
Munson said he got out of an HSI van to confront the suspect. Rojas-Orellana later told police that he initially did not realize they were law enforcement officers, but instead thought they were other drug dealers who “were going to rob him and … shoot him,” according to a summary of a police interview with Rojas-Orellana. He said he backed up and tried to drive forward before realizing they were officers and, although he applied the brakes, it was too late and he hit Munson in the leg.
Munson said he fired his shotgun once at Rojas-Orellana, leaving him with four wounds to his chest and hand, according to the police report. The multiple wounds were caused by buckshot, a type of ammunition that contains multiple lead pellets in one shell, the report said.
Both men were admitted to the Tacoma General Hospital. Munson was released later that evening with “no fractures from the incident,” the police report said. Rojas-Orellana spent a couple weeks in the hospital recovering, according to a sentencing memorandum.
Rojas-Orellana was charged and convicted of conspiracy to distribute heroin, possession of a firearm and assault on a federal officer with a dangerous weapon, and sentenced to more than six years in prison. He has unsuccessfully applied four times for a lesser sentence, according to federal court records.
Michael James Antonoff
West Palm Beach, Florida
May 19, 2015
HSI agents shot and wounded Michael James Antonoff as he was speeding away from a failed undercover drug deal, according to a 2015 federal criminal complaint that accused Antonoff of assaulting a federal officer.
The incident occurred in the parking lot of an El Dorado furniture store when an undercover agent attempted to buy approximately 1 kilogram of cocaine from Antonoff, according to the incident report from West Palm Beach police. The cocaine later was tested and revealed to be fake, police said.
According to a federal criminal complaint, Antonoff sped away after the undercover agent got out of the car and gave an arrest signal to agents waiting nearby. HSI agent Jeffrey Muller said, in an interview conducted by a West Palm Beach Police Department detective three days after the shooting, that Antonoff drove his car directly at him while he was standing in the middle of the street.
Muller and HSI agent Antonio Rivera, who was also on foot, said they both shot at Antonoff’s car in self-defense and to prevent the suspect’s escape, the federal criminal complaint said. Muller said “he was scared to death,” and “thought he (Antonoff) was trying to kill me, according to court documents.
The agents fired several shots at Antonoff, hitting him four times. The gunfire disabled the car and Antonoff pulled over and surrendered. Antonoff suffered partial paralysis in his right arm, according to court filings by Antonoff’s attorney.
Charges against Antonoff for assault on a federal officer were dropped nine days after he was arrested, according to a federal court document.
Expert analysis of surveillance footage of the shooting that later surfaced publicly contradicted the agents’ claims of what happened. Videos from the store and an ICE surveillance helicopter showed the agents running toward the driver’s side of Antonoff’s car while shooting at him.
The agents were not charged in the shooting.
In a 2016 letter clearing the agents of wrongdoing, David Aronberg, the West Palm Beach County State’s Attorney, stated that “the agents’ use of deadly force in self-defense and defense of others was both reasonable and lawful.”
In his 2017 federal civil rights lawsuit against the HSI agents , Antonoff accused them of violating his civil rights by using excessive force in the shooting and subsequent arrest.
An expert witness for the plaintiff, George Kirkham, said in two affidavits that “no law enforcement agent was in danger or threatened by the Antonoff vehicle at any time,” and that “the use of deadly force in this situation was excessive and outrageous.”
In January 2018, a federal district judge dismissed the lawsuit, citing the agents’ qualified immunity, a legal doctrine that generally shields government employees from being sued for actions taken in their official capacity.
He noted that while the HSI agents were not in the direct path of the car, it was “reasonable for them to have feared for their own safety and for the safety of others nearby.”
In a different case, Antonoff was convicted of possession and intent to sell an imitation controlled substance, as well as fleeing law enforcement. He was sentenced to eight years in Santa Rosa Correctional Institution, according to a Palm Beach County Sentence Order.
Fernando Geovanni Llanez
Chula Vista, California
June 14, 2016
A federal civil rights lawsuit in California alleges that Fernando Geovanni Llanez, 22, was shot and killed by HSI agent Ronaldo Gonzalez during an undercover drug sting conducted by what was dubbed the “Road Kill Team.” The operation also included agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Customs and Border Protection and the Chula Vista Police Department.
Chula Vista police refused to release its incident report on the shooting or a copy of Gonzalez’s body-worn audio recording of the events, saying it required “a lawful court order/subpoena” for such records.
The alleged details of the incident are laid out in the pending lawsuit filed by Llanez’ parents , as well as the federal government’s response.
The incident occurred just before 2 p.m. in the parking lot of a Starbucks in east Chula Vista, south of San Diego, the lawsuit said.
Llanez was hired by a drug suspect to “drop off a van in the morning, and then later the same day pick up the van,” according to the lawsuit. He dropped off the van at the Terra Nova Shopping Center and left the keys under the passenger seat, as instructed.
As part of the undercover operation, Gonzalez picked up the van, and another agent drove it to a secure location and loaded it with 2,000 pounds of “marijuana on the HSI property where it has been stored.” According to the lawsuit, the van was then driven to and parked at the busy shopping center.
A driver then dropped off Llanez to retrieve the loaded van from Gonzalez, according to the lawsuit. Although Llanez alleged he was unaware the van was carrying marijuana, the lawsuit said Llanez was given a Taser in the event the selling party tried to steal the van or injure him.
Llanez approached the van as Gonzalez went to unlock the driver’s door, the lawsuit said. The agent then took the keys out of the driver’s door and ran away, it said.
Llanez “drew the Taser while running after Agent Gonzalez attempting to stop him from stealing the only set of keys to the van,” according to the lawsuit. Gonzalez, who allegedly had not identified himself as law enforcement, noticed Llanez had a taser, stopped and knelt to retrieve a gun holstered at his ankle and immediately shot Llanez three times, the lawsuit said.
While Llanez was lying on the ground, the suit said, the agent fired a fourth, fatal shot to the back.
In their motion to dismiss the lawsuit, U.S. attorneys said Gonzalez acted lawfully and fired four times in two seconds, which “belies the suggestion that there was a pause and time for deliberation.”
Anti-Felon Identification confetti, which deploys to signify a Taser was fired, was found on the scene. The lawsuit said the confetti was released when Gonzalez’s bullets hit the Taser.
After the shooting, another HSI agent on the scene allegedly told Gonzalez: “Don’t worry about it … You’re (sic) good man … Remember … no statements, none of that (expletive),” the lawsuit said, citing a police recording of the incident that lawyers for the family said they had obtained.
Agents said they believed Llanez was dead and did not call for medical aid, the lawsuit contended. The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that Llanez was taken to a hospital but died of his wounds.
Felix Torres Sr.
Chicago
March 27, 2017
In a dawn raid on a home in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood of northwest Chicago, an HSI agent shot Felix Torres Sr. in the arm while attempting to check the immigration status of a suspected gang member who reportedly lived in his house, according to a police incident report.
HSI agents arrived at the home about 6:00 a.m. in search of Felix Torres Jr., but instead encountered Efrain Torres, who “matched the description” of the alleged gang member, according to the police report.
Efrain Torres had returned home from a night out with friends when he heard voices behind him outside the house, saying “Come here Felix,” according to a summary of Efrain’s interview with police. Efrain then turned to see three men in plainclothes wearing bulletproof vests with “Police” on the front, calling for Felix to come to them, but Efrain said his name was not Felix, according to the report.
Efrain then knocked hard on the back door until Felix Torres Sr. opened the door. He later told police that his father was not holding anything when he opened the door.
HSI agents told police that Torres Sr. opened the door armed with a handgun, according to the incident report, then pointed the weapon at an HSI agent. However, a summary of Torres Sr.’s interview with police said he held his gun “down by his right side.”
A second HSI agent, Eric Rice, fired an “unknown number of times” with his M4 rifle, the incident report said. Residents in the house and Chicago police officers surveilling the operation differed on the exact number of shots fired.
Torres Sr. was struck in his left arm and the bullet lodged in his back; his left humerus and scapula were broken by the bullet, the police report said.
He was taken into custody and accused of aggravated assault against an officer with a weapon but was released the next day, the police report said. Efrain was taken into custody and accused of resisting and obstructing an officer but was released the same day without charges, the report said.
Rice was not charged in the shooting. In October 2019, Torres Sr. filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the federal government and the HSI agents for alleged battery, false arrest and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The lawsuit said Torres Sr. placed his firearm on a table before he opened his back door, and “at no time while the Defendant ICE officers shot at him did (he) have a firearm in his hands or within reach.” The suit also says Torres Sr. was in lawful possession of a firearm and had a valid Firearm Owner Identification card.
In a response filed with the court in January, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago denied most of the allegations and said the agents “acted reasonably and in self-defense.”
Community advocates and local politicians called for further investigation into the federal agents’ use of force and increased accountability.
Juan Cruz, an organizer with Communities United, said that there was a lot of fear in the neighborhood on the day of the shooting, adding, “People were literally afraid of taking their kids to school that morning.”
Mario Dantoni Bass
Dumfries, Virginia
Feb. 23, 2018
An ICE agent shot and killed Mario Dantoni Bass, 37, behind a Days Inn motel as Bass was trying to escape arrest, according to a news release from the Prince William County Police Department.
A U.S. Marshals fugitive task force was attempting to serve Bass with several arrest warrants, some dating to 2015, while he was staying at the motel in northern Virginia, police said.
After officers knocked on Bass’s door, a police news release said, he tried to flee out the back by breaking through an upper-floor window. Once outside, he encountered a member of the task force, and a “physical altercation” ensued, police said. Bass was shot in the “upper body,” according to the news release.
Police refused to answer specific questions, saying only that a struggle “ensued and Mr. Bass was shot by the task force member.”
According to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for Northern Virginia, however, Bass’ cause of death was “gunshot wound to the back.”
Virginia authorities refused to release the agent’s name. But a letter the local prosecutor sent to the agent’s attorney identified him as ICE agent David Beck.
ICE officials refused to say whether Beck worked for HSI or ERO, the division charged with arresting and deporting undocumented immigrants. Local media reported that none of Bass’ warrants were related to immigration.
Prince William County Attorney Paul Ebert, who reviewed details of the shooting, said the shot led to the “almost immediate demise” of Bass. But he chose not to press charges against the agent, saying in the letter that there was no evidence he “acted with any motive other than that of doing his federal duty to arrest and detain Mario Bass” and that he “subjectively believed his actions were necessary and proper.”
Montre’ Bass said his brother had only a small pocket knife on him during the fight and questioned why the agent needed to use lethal force.
“Why are they shooting to kill people when they should just shoot to injure people?” he asked. “They could take them to face his day in court … not take it upon yourself to, to kill somebody.”
Erik Dunham
Scottsdale
March 2, 2018
HSI agent Charles Wertheim shot and killed Erik Dunham outside a Whataburger restaurant, according to a Scottsdale police incident report.
Wertheim and two other HSI agents were tasked with taking Dunham into custody because he had missed a February sentencing hearing for a state-level case involving human trafficking, according to the report and Maricopa County Superior Court records. The federal agents had been deputized by the county Sheriff’s Office to help in the investigation.
Wertheim, driving an unmarked truck, said he began following Dunham after he was picked up by his wife at a gas station, according to a transcript of his interview with police included in the incident report. Wertheim said the pair then drove to a Whataburger in the busy Scottsdale Fiesta shopping center. While his wife went inside to order food, Dunham stood outside the couple’s pickup truck, smoking a cigarette, the report said.
Wertheim alerted the two other HSI agents in the parking lot that he “was confident” it was Dunham, he said in a police interview six days after the shooting. Wertheim then pulled up and exited his truck to apprehend Dunham, he told police. After Wertheim called his name, Dunham turned and seemed shocked to see him, according to Wertheim’s account of the event.
Dunham then “started moving and pulling, going to his waist where I thought that … there’s a weapon on his waist,” the agent said. Wertheim said he commanded Dunham to “Show me your hands,” but he said Dunham did not comply with his orders. After several attempts to get Dunham to “drop the gun,” Wertheim shot him multiple times.
Dunham fell back, gun still in hand, which he pointed again in the general direction of Wertheim while writhing from his injuries, the police report said. Wertheim then shot Dunham at least two more times, stepped forward and shot him once more before believing he had “neutralized the threat,” he said in the report.
The bullets struck Dunham in the chin, neck, upper left chest, left elbow and left leg, according to an autopsy summarized in the report. He died at the scene.
Wertheim, a former emergency medical technician, told police he immediately attempted to render first aid.
The agent was uninjured, although the police report said he was given a sedative at a nearby hospital after the shooting because his blood pressure was high.
The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office conducted an independent review of the incident and concluded HSI agents had disregarded officer-involved shooting protocols by not remaining on the scene and not giving interviews until six days after the shooting. The office outlined certain protocols that should be followed to ensure a sound investigation into officer-involved shootings.
“First, Agent Wertheim was removed from the scene,” the letter stated. “Secondly, Agent Wertheim was not returned to the scene. Third, Agent Wertheim did not participate in a walk-through. Fourth, Agent Wertheim was not interviewed at or near the time of the use of deadly force. Lastly, the failure to adhere to MCAO OIS Protocol was excused by on scene Federal Homeland Policy Security Supervisors who relied on Internal Policies to justify the decisions made at the scene.”
The letter warned that “deviations” from the officer-involved shooting protocols “could potentially threaten the integrity and accountability of law enforcement investigations.” The County Attorney’s Office did not file charges against Wertheim but noted that “were the numerous witness statements not present in this case, these enumerated violations of the MCAO OIS Protocol alone would certainly justify further investigatory steps by this prosecution agency, including the convening of an investigatory grand jury to ensure the integrity of this investigation and that the government’s use of deadly force was both necessary and lawfully justified.”
Giovanni Leon
Mesa, Arizona
May 8, 2018
HSI agents Eddie Arrellano, Manuel Ochoa and Andrew Thompson were involved in a shooting that caused the death of Giovanni Leon, 21, in a busy strip mall parking lot, according to a Mesa Police Department incident report.
Leon and another man were trying to sell 16 pounds of methamphetamine and had planned to rob the potential buyers at gunpoint during the deal, the police report said.
Leon met Arellano, who was acting as the buyer during the drug sting, with a bag with boxing gloves inside that he intended to look like the meth, while his partner sat hunched down in the front seat of the car, so that the undercover agent would not see him.
When Leon pulled a gun to rob Arellano, the undercover agent fired twice at Leon, according to the police incident report. Leon then tried to walk around the car, but agents Thompson and Ochoa approached the vehicle and shot him again, the report said.
In a synopsis of an interview with Mesa police, Thompson said he fired his weapon until he observed Leon falling to the ground. An analysis of the scene by Mesa police showed that Ochoa fired six rounds, Thompson fired nine and Arellano fired two.
Other HSI agents, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents and Maricopa County sheriff’s deputies also were part of the drug sting, according to the report, but none fired their weapons.
The man who was hiding in the car, Carlos Casillas-Mendoza, was later arrested, according to court documents, and charged with first-degree murder, attempting to commit armed robbery and conspiracy to commit armed robbery. He was accused of causing Leon’s death because of his involvement in the attempted armed robbery.
Although none of the HSI agents was injured during the shooting, all were transported to the hospital despite requests from a Mesa patrol lieutenant to have them go to a Mesa police substation for interviews on the shooting, according to the police report.
The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office conducted an independent review of the incident and concluded HSI agents had not followed officer-involved shooting protocols by not remaining on the scene and not giving interviews until eight days later. The office outlined certain protocols that should be followed to ensure a sound investigation into officer-involved shootings.
“The best practice of remaining at or near the scene of the shooting and submitting to a timely interview was not adhered to by any of the involved Agents,” the letter said. Additionally, “no interviews of the involved Special Agents were conducted at the time of the shooting nor did any of the involved Special Agents participate in a walk-through at the shooting scene on the day of the shooting as per the OIS Protocol.”
However, the office concluded that “there is no evidence to support any criminal charges against any involved Federal Agents.”
Michael Dewayne Dennis
Houston
July 11, 2018
An HSI agent shot and wounded Michael Dewayne Dennis while attempting to serve an arrest warrant for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute at least 100 kilograms of marijuana, according to law enforcement officials in Houston and a federal indictment of Dennis.
As Homeland Security federal agents were serving the warrant, police said in a news release, “three agents made forced entry” into Dennis’ home around 6 a.m.
“As they entered the front door, the suspect was seen carrying a firearm. Fearing for their safety, one of the agents discharged his weapon,” police said. A mobile robot was then sent into the home to force Dennis out, police said.
A wounded Dennis finally came out of the house and was taken to the hospital, according to police.
Dennis was arrested on state charges of aggravated assault against a public servant and a federal charge of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana.
The state criminal complaint against Dennis mentions two officers involved in the shooting: “L. Gonzalez and M. Malmquist.” According to court records, neither of those officers was charged in the shooting. A spokesman for the Harris County district attorney’s office confirmed that it was an HSI agent who shot Dennis.
Houston police have refused to release any further details on the shooting or their investigation into the case. Department officials asked the Texas Attorney General’s Office to block a release of public records requested by the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism.
Jeovany Rubio
Phoenix
July 24, 2018
HSI agents Tony Tran and Ricardo Amaya shot and wounded Jeovany Rubio as he attempted to flee in his car during a drug sting, according to a police incident report.
The 4-year-old son of Rubio’s girlfriend, who was sitting in the passenger seat, was injured by glass shards when one agent fired through the windshield, police said.
The HSI agents were conducting a drug investigation when they followed another suspect to a strip mall parking lot in northwest Phoenix in mid-afternoon, the report said. Rubio had previously agreed to meet that other suspect, Edgar Mendez Velasquez, in the parking lot to exchange more than 8 kilograms of methamphetamine, according to a federal complaint against Rubio and others allegedly involved in the drug deal.
As Rubio ran from Velasquez’s truck to his own sedan, carrying a cardboard box, the HSI agents began to drive toward the two to “take both vehicles ‘down,’” according to a summary of an interview police had with Tran. Velasquez complied with police orders and was arrested, according to the report.
Additional agents positioned their undercover cars to block in Rubio’s car, the report said.
Agents approached Rubio’s car with guns drawn, some issuing commands to “Turn off the vehicle,” the report said. Phoenix police, summarizing their interview with one of the HSI agents, said “the driver looked up and made eye contact with Agent Tran in what he described as a ‘penetrating stare.’”
Meanwhile the other HSI agent, Amaya, was approaching the front driver’s side of Rubio’s car with his gun drawn, issuing commands to not move. According to a summary of his interview with police, Amaya recalled “the driver was looking around as if he was looking for an escape route.”
Rubio then accelerated his vehicle forward in an attempt to evade arrest, the police report said, and each agent fired at him once. Tran shot through the windshield and Amaya shot through the open window of the driver’s door, according to the report, although both agents said they had seen the child sitting in the front passenger seat of the car.
The shooting left Rubio’s arm with a “permanent disability,” attorney Steve Ralls said in an email, without specifying the injury. His 4-year-old son received minor injuries from the windshield glass, police said.
Neither agent was injured.
Rubio agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine in a deal with prosecutors.
The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office conducted an independent review of the incident and concluded HSI agents had not followed officer-involved shooting protocols by not remaining on the scene and not giving interviews until nine days after the shooting. The county attorney’s office outlined certain protocols that should be followed to ensure a sound investigation into officer-involved shootings.
Although prosecutors did not recommend criminal charges against the agents, they said “the failure to follow the OIS Protocol leaves this Office in a position where it must rely upon less reliable sources and limits the degree to which involved agents can be fully cleared of any wrongdoing.”
Donald Janvier
Charlotte
August 25, 2018
HSI agent Jose Dugger shot and killed Donald Janvier, 30, in a parking lot outside the Tropix Bar and Lounge, according to a report by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department included in a review by the Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s Office.
Dugger was conducting a gang and alcohol operation with North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement agents about 2 a.m. at the nightclub, where they believed two gang-affiliated rappers were participating in a competition, according to the report.
After a fight broke out inside the club, police said, Janvier headed to his white Chrysler 300 in the parking lot, intending to leave. As he was walking toward his car, a worker at the bar told agents that Janvier had a gun, police said.
Janvier kept the gun in his pants but ignored commands to stop, agents told police.
Janvier got in his car, turned it on and put it in drive, agents told police. He then accelerated the car forward “approximately half the length of the parking space,” according to a synopsis by the district attorney included in the police report.
By that point, the HSI agent had walked in front of Janvier’s car, wearing a long-sleeve shirt with “POLICE” in black lettering down both arms and a green vest with “POLICE” in white lettering on the front and rear, according to Dugger’s interview with police. The car struck Dugger’s left leg, the police report said, then moved forward again, which “forced him (Dugger) onto the hood of the vehicle.”
Dugger said he shot through the windshield, striking Janvier once in the neck, the police report said. The car stopped abruptly, throwing the agent off the hood, Dugger told police.
Janvier got out of his car and began yelling and cursing at the officers. He then collapsed and later died in the parking lot, despite life-saving attempts by agents and emergency medical technicians who arrived on scene, the police report said. Police photos showed Janvier’s gun on the ground, noting it had been pulled from his right pant leg.
An autopsy revealed the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the right side of Janvier’s neck, with the bullet lodged in his upper right back.
In an interview with police four days after the shooting, Dugger said his doctor told him that he had a fractured femur and had possibly injured his knee.
The district attorney’s office declined to press charges, saying, “it would be impossible for the State to prove that Special Agent Dugger did not act in self-defense when he fired at the decedent.”
Richard Lance Brewton
Benson, Arizona
March 6, 2019
An HSI agent fired into an RV at Richard Brewton, a suspect in a child pornography investigation, according to a Benson Police Department incident report. Brewton was injured by glass shards or shrapnel produced by the agent’s gunfire, the report said.
HSI agents were trying to serve a search warrant on Brewton at the Butterfield RV Resort after identifying an IP address belonging to him as having allegedly downloaded child pornography six months earlier, according to a federal complaint.
After HSI agents attempted to force open the door, Brewton hid his hard drive under his bed, then shot his laptop to “put a few rounds in it to destroy it,” according to a summary of Brewton’s interview with police.
A few seconds after he shot his laptop “a bunch of bullets came through the windshield,” and he hit the floor for cover, according to Brewton’s interview summary in the incident report.
An HSI agent – whose name is redacted from the police report – told police in an interview seven days after the shooting that when he heard gunshots from inside the RV, he “immediately ran to the front of the RV and began shooting through the front windshield in the direction of where [he] thought the shots were coming from.”
No agents were injured.
The Cochise County Attorney’s Office did not investigate the shooting because it does not have investigators, County Attorney Brian McIntyre said in an email.
“There were no charges or request for charging presented regarding the HSI agent firing his weapon,” McIntyre wrote. “I would note that his actions were clearly covered under Arizona’s justification statutes.”
Those statutes say that the use of deadly force depends on whether “the peace officer reasonably believes that it is necessary.”
Theresa Medina Thomas, Warren Jose, Genaro Jiménez-Sánchez, Maria Martinez-Luna and Valentina Valenzuela
Phoenix
April 11, 2019
Four HSI agents in three unmarked trucks were following and planning to arrest Warren Jose on charges related to human smuggling, according to federal court records. But the plans went awry, and agents shot and killed one woman and wounded or injured Jose and three others in his vehicle.
Agents had been following Jose’s Chevrolet Trailblazer for several miles as it headed north on Interstate 10 when it exited the highway and drove unexpectedly into the Phoenix neighborhood of Ahwatukee Foothills. According to statements HSI agents gave to Phoenix police investigating the shooting, the Trailblazer then began taking “counter-surveillance” measures to evade arrest.
Agents twice tried to stop the vehicle in a “pinch maneuver” but failed. They eventually executed the maneuver on a residential street in a retirement community, leading to a collision that sent one HSI truck plowing through a garden block wall.
A gunfight ensued. The four HSI agents – Marcus Camacho, Jeff Hemphill, Richard Mortensen and Bryan Altieri – fired more than 80 rounds at the Trailblazer, according to police records. Jose fired just over 20 rounds from inside the vehicle.
Theresa Medina Thomas, 29, an acquaintance of Jose’s who was driving the Trailblazer, was shot to death by HSI agents, police records show. Although she had been convicted on previous charges related to human smuggling and was on supervised release, Medina Thomas was not the target of the HSI operation.
Jose and three other passengers, including two undocumented immigrants, were wounded or injured in the shooting. One HSI agent suffered a minor shrapnel wound in his shoulder and another complained of back pain after the crash.
In interviews with Phoenix police five days after the shooting, the HSI agents said the Trailblazer’s driver used the vehicle as a weapon and deliberately ran one of their agent’s trucks off the road before the shooting began. Recordings of the interviews were released by Phoenix police under a public records request.
Jose is in federal custody awaiting trial on charges that include transporting undocumented migrants, assault on federal officers with a weapon and the discharge of a firearm during a violent crime.
The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office reviewed the police investigation and found that the HSI agents violated officer-involved-shooting (OIS) protocols, in part by not answering detailed questions at the scene about how the shooting had occurred.
Although prosecutors did not recommend charges, they noted that “the failure to follow the OIS Protocol leaves this Office in a position where it must rely upon secondary sources and limits the degree to which involved agents can be fully and confidently cleared of any wrongdoing.”
In a letter to A. Scott Brown, the special agent in charge of HSI for the Phoenix region, the county attorney concluded “there is insufficient evidence to rebut the involved agents’ subsequent statements of reasonable belief of imminent use of deadly physical force by the decedent.”
Reuben Rankin
Cleveland
Oct. 30, 2019
In the pre-dawn hours, an HSI agent shot at Reuben Rankin after he allegedly fired on agents attempting to serve a search warrant at a home in southeast Cleveland, according to federal court records in Ohio.
As agents approached the rear of the home, they were shot at about six times from a car parked nearby, according to an affidavit filed by HSI Agent Lawrence T. Sullin. An agent responded with one shot, according to the affidavit, and Rankin was ordered out of the car.
Once in custody, Sullin testified at a later hearing, Rankin told agents: “I can’t believe I shot at the police.”
Rankin’s public defender, Darin Thompson, noted during the hearing that the car Rankin was in had tinted windows, hindering his ability to see out clearly. On questioning, Sullin acknowledged that it was still dark outside at the time of the shooting.
The defense attorney also questioned Sullin as to how clear it was that the men approaching Rankin’s car were, in fact, agents.
“Did the camo outfits and helmets they had on, did they have ‘police’ written on them or anything?”
“Yes, it’s subdued,” Sullin responded.
“It would have been difficult to see the ‘police’ lettering?” Thompson pressed.
“I guess every individual’s perspective would be different,” Sullin answered.
Rankin was charged with assault on a federal agent using a deadly weapon and possession of a firearm as a felon, according to court documents. His case is pending in federal court.
Rankin had previous convictions in Cuyahoga County including kidnapping, witness intimidation, burglary, domestic violence and aggravated assault, according to the HSI agent’s affidavit.
In an ICE press release, U.S. Attorney Justin Herdman said, “We are grateful that no law enforcement officer was injured, and we stand by this very simple point – if you shoot at law enforcement investigating federal crimes, you can expect swift and severe charges in federal court.”
The Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication is an initiative of the Scripps Howard Foundation in honor of the late news industry executive and pioneer Roy W. Howard. Reporters Alexandra Edelmann, Joel Farias Godinez, Derek Hall, Maia Ordoñez and Devan Sauer, as well as Wissam Melhem of Cronkite News-Washington Bureau, contributed to this report. For more on this story, see http://azpbs.org/homelandsecrets.
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