A U.S. Border Patrol agent shot and killed a man Sunday in the Baboquivari Mountains on the Tohono O’odham Nation, federal officials confirmed today.
The incident occurred at about mid-day Sunday when an agent encountered a group who had crossed the border illegally, agency spokesman Victor Brabble said via email
A struggle occurred during the incident, leading to the agent shooting one member of the group.
Brabble did not say the nationality of the man who died.
The FBI is investigating, Special Agent in Charge James Turgal said this afternoon.
Sunday’s incident was the third fatal shooting by a Border Patrol agent in the Tucson Sector since Oct. 2. That day, agent Nicholas Ivie was killed in what FBI has determined was a case of friendly fire.
Eight days later, on Oct. 10, an agent in Nogales, Ariz. fired across the border and killed 16-year-old José Antonio Elena Rodríguez.
The FBI is investigating those cases as well. Mexican authorities are also investigating the killing of Elena Rodríguez.
TUCSON- A Tucson attorney is representing a woman believed to be a key player in the drug world in Colombia and Mexico. Steve Ralls has been in business three decades and has had numerous high profile clients. Now he can add, Sandra Avila Beltran known as, "La Reina del Pacifico" or the Queen of the Pacific.
There's a book, and even a narco corrido, or drug ballad about her.
Retired U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent Anthony Coulson says, "She was a main connection for the Sinaloan Cartel in terms of establishing and solidifying relationships with the Colombian cocaine suppliers."
She was arrested in Mexico five years ago, and charged with smuggling 10 tons of cocaine. A Mexican judge dropped those charges saying there was insufficient evidence against her.
Then last August she was extradited to the United States, on charges of conspiracy to distribute 220 pounds of cocaine.
She is currently sitting in prison in Miami, Florida. Her attorney says, "We've had relatively good degree of successes representing individuals, beyond that I can't really say why she came to us but she did."
Ralls a former law enforcement officer, including being a DEA agent says he doesn't buy into the hype of "La Reina's" reputation. "Most of what has been generated concerning what the agents are saying is really a repetition of a lot of the gossip that exists," he says.
He says the media has also perpetuated the legend of "La Reina del Pacifico" and her alleged drug connections. "She may know individuals that are involved in drug trafficking its probably very true, that she has participated in that is a whole different story."
Both of Beltran's husbands were former police commanders who became drug traffickers and were assassinated.
Her uncle is in prison for the murder of a DEA agent. Her teenage son was kidnapped and held for a $12-million ransom. It's reported she paid it.
Former DEA agent Coulson says, "Sandra Beltran is a very ruthless person who my information is that never hesitated to give the order to have someone killed."
Her attorney says, "I dispute that she is ruthless and dispute everything else. She is a very decent person."
A jury will make their decision in March on the future of La Reina del Pacifico.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- A Tampa Bay area man faces charges after authorities say a visitor found four kittens - one of which was dead - in his freezer.
The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office reports that 38-year-old Rodney Blanchard asked a friend to get a beer out of his freezer Sunday. Instead of beer, the friend said she found kittens in individual sandwich bags. When the friend tried to remove the kittens, she said Blanchard made her leave. That's when she contacted authorities.
Deputies reported finding three orange and white males, which were still alive, and a dead, calico female. They were approximately six weeks old.
The surviving kittens were taken to a local animal hospital. Officials also removed an adult cat from the home.
Blanchard was charged with four counts of animal cruelty and one count of misdemeanor battery. He was being held on $8,500 bail
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/12/03/3125297/man-charged-after-kittens-found.html#storylink=cpy
SINGAPORE (AP) — Singapore sentenced a
Chinese immigrant bus driver to six weeks in prison Monday for his involvement
in the city-state's first
labor strike in 26 years.
Pushing for the jail term as a deterrent,
the prosecution argued in court that although Bao Feng Shan, 38, was not an instigator of
the strike, he was "far from a mere passive participant."
The prosecution said a lenient approach may encourage others to think that
they can commit similar offences and "conveniently express remorse to escape
custodial sentence."
A total of 171 Chinese bus drivers went on
strike last Monday in protest at being paid nearly a quarter less than Malaysian
bus drivers who work for the same transport company.
More than half continued to protest on
Tuesday but the strike was over by Wednesday. It disrupted about 5 percent of
the city-state's bus services.
Walking off the job in protest is almost
unheard of in Singapore, which requires essential service workers such as bus
drivers to give 14 days' notice of a strike. The last strike was in 1986 by
shipyard workers.
Bo was one of five bus drivers charged for
involvement in the strike. The other four are scheduled to appear in court on
Thursday and are currently being held at the central police station.
If convicted, they can be fined up to
$2,000 and sentenced to up to a year in prison.
On Sunday, 29 other drivers had their
permits revoked and were deported to China. The government said a police
investigation found that the strike was premeditated and that the drivers had
been absent from work without reason.
Others involved in the unrest will be
issued warnings but no further action will be taken and they will be allowed to
remain and work in the country.
Singapore relies on hundreds of thousands
of immigrants from countries such as Indonesia, Bangladesh and China to work as
maids, construction workers and at other jobs deemed unappealing by many
locals.
Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems has been awarded a $65 million contract to continue development of the nation’s next-generation air-to-ground missile.
Raytheon is in a competition with Lockheed martin to develop and produce the Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM), a potentially multi-billion-dollar program to replace three older missiles. The Army-led program was nearly canceled amid Pentagon budget-cutting but instead has been put on an extended development track.
Raytheon’s contract award by the Army Aviation Missile Command was expected, since Lockheed Martin was awarded a similar contract worth $64 million in August.
Raytheon said that under the contract for “continued technology development," the company will develop and deliver a next-generation guidance section for the JAGM, with four months devoted to updating its design and a preliminary review, followed by two years for a critical design review, guidance section qualification and testing, and delivery of JAGM guidance sections
VENTURA, Calif. (AP) — A U.S. Coast Guard member was killed and another was injured when their small boat was rammed by a smuggler's vessel before dawn Sunday off the Southern California coast.
Terrell Horne III of Redondo Beach was pronounced dead after being brought ashore at the Port of Hueneme (why-NEEM-mee), said Ventura County chief deputy medical examiner James Baroni. He suffered a traumatic head injury, Coast Guard officials said.
The second man was treated for minor injuries. His name wasn't released.
The smuggler's panga, which was running without lights, maneuvered at a high rate of speed directly at the small boat before fleeing, according to a Coast Guard statement. Both Coast Guard members were thrown into the water.
Another Coast Guard vessel stopped the fleeing panga, and detained two suspects.
"Our fallen shipmate stood the watch on the front lines protecting our nation, and we are all indebted to him for his service and sacrifice," said Admiral Robert J. Papp, Coast Guard Commandant.
The small Coast Guard boat was deployed by the cutter Halibut, which was conducting an investigation into suspected smuggling near the Channel Islands west of Malibu.
The smuggler's vessel was initially detected by a Coast Guard maritime patrol aircraft.
Chihuahua, Chihuahua. - Ministerial Police agents captured an alleged Sinaloa cartel hit man who allegedly participated in the execution of eight people who were 'kidnapped' last weekend in the municipalities of Jiménez and Valle de Allende, Chihuahua.
The arrest of Oscar Ontiveros Fernando Ruiz-Esparza , who was arrested by an intelligence operation conducted in Parral, where he sold drugs.
An undercoverwas used to capture the defendant at the address located on the street 57 of the colony Madrid Miguel Hidalgo.
He said a .40 caliber handgun with 10 cartridges, 1 charger with 72 disk cartridges 7.62x39 caliber, .40 caliber 34 rounds of ammunition, a smoke grenade, a goat horn (AK47), a bulletproof vest and a communication radio.
Ruiz Esparza said to belong to the Sinaloa cartel, and his companions left their fingerprints embodied in a cardboard with a message in which he adjudged the crime to someone known as the M-10.
"The fingerprints were analyzed in the national database Identification System AFIS and information platform crossed with Mexico and that's how they came up with Oscar Fernando Ruiz Esparza , "the state official said.
He noted that the prosecution has a video where the detainee is involved in the uprising of the now deceased in Jimenez, Chihuahua, and leap from vehicles and persons involved in this crime.
Authorities released this kidnapping video that will be used in trial:
A U.S. Border Patrol agent shot and killed a man Sunday in the Baboquivari Mountains on the Tohono O’odham Nation, federal officials confirmed today.
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