A Venezuelan illegal immigrant opened fire on three police officers in Texas after being cut lose by U.S. Border Patrol last year.
Illegal immigrant shoots at Texas cops
One of the officers was wounded and had to be dragged away to safety by colleagues, who then called in the SWAT team.
The shooter, Jorge Chacon-Gutierrez, 25, who crossed into Eagle Pass, Texas, in November 2023 without authorization but was set free by federal authorities.
Chacon-Gutierrez began shooting at officers that had responded to a domestic abuse call at his girlfriend’s apartment at 3 a.m. on Sunday, after he allegedly assaulted her.
“When officers went in to the apartment, (the shooter) was lying in bed with a rifle by his side, and he started shooting at the officer,” Police Chief William McManus stated. “The officers returned fire. They exited the apartment.”
SWAT officers later entered the apartment and found the suspect deceased, though it was unclear whether he died from a self-inflicted wound or police gunfire.
The wounded officer, who has less than three years of service, has not been identified by the department. She was rushed into surgery on Sunday morning and is expected to survive.
Illegal immigrant runs over restaurant owner he robbed
In a similar case, a judge dismissed three felony charges against an illegal immigrant, who months later, was accused of deliberately hitting-and-running from a crash that killed a Nashville restaurant owner.
On June 19, Ulises Martinez, 29, struck 42-year-old Matt Carney in the parking lot of his chicken joint, Smokin Thighs.
Martinez and 31-year-old Adrian Diaz were stealing tools from Carney’s truck when the restaurant owner confronted them, leading to Martinez run the man over.
Diaz was taken into police custody on July 10. He was charged with evading arrest and drug possession. It’s unclear why he was not charged with theft or Carney’s murder.
Diaz has been deported four times and has been criminally convicted in Indiana and Tennessee.
Instead of sticking around and calling for help, Martinez took off and left Carney so severely injured that he ended up succumbing to his injuries on July 4.
Police were able to locate Martinez, who was arrested charged with criminal homicide, tampering with evidence, vehicle theft, criminal impersonation, and evading arrest.
Martinez is also an illegal immigrant from Mexico, having entered the United States at an unknown date and location without authorization from an immigration officer.
Judge dismissed theft charges against Martinez
Court records show that Carney’s death may have been avoided if Martinez was convicted for a similar crime earlier this year.
Martinez and his 33-year-old accomplice, Christian Arredondo, were arrested in February for allegedly carjacking two vehicles and stealing tools from another.
Instead of putting the pair behind bars, Nashville Judge Jim Todd dismissed all three charges at a preliminary hearing March, ruling that prosecutors failed to show probable cause.
Insanely, a Nashville Police Detective Luke Steigerwalt testified that he had actually witnessed Martinez and Arredondo driving a stolen white van on February 28.
He followed them as they removed tools and machinery from a truck and placed them in the stolen van.
The detective added that he saw them steal the tools and a truck before parking it in a different location. The men then drove the van to an apartment complex, where police arrested them.
Neither Arredondo nor Martinez could provide proof of ownership for the van which was stolen six days earlier and had a fake temporary license plate.
Arredondo had a crack pipe on him when they were arrested, and neither of them could speak English.
Lawyer gets Martinez set free
Martinez’s lawyer, Jennifer Barrera, contested the charges on the grounds of probable cause, arguing that Martinez should face a lesser charge of joyriding rather than felony theft.
She claimed that there was no proof that Martinez knowingly stole the vehicle, despite the van’s owner testifying that he did not know either man and definitely did not give them permission to take the truck.
Barrera also claimed that the state didn’t have proof that Martinez was aware that Arredondo had intended to steal the red truck, or that the tools lifted from the third vehicle were stolen rather than borrowed.
The prosecutor maintained that probable cause was established through warrants showing the men knowingly possessed the stolen vehicle.
Judge Todd, however, suggested that the van might have been pawned to Martinez and Arredondo, rather than stolen, and dismissed the charges.
Illegal migrant kills family of three
In another incident, an illegal immigrant who had been deported three times was charged with killing a mother and her two young children.
Jose Carmen Cardona, 59, was arrested and charged in connection with the June 25 camper fire in Stockton, California, that killed 32-year-old Lisbeth Gutierrez-Salazar and her sons, Juan Gutierrez-Salazar, 10, and Julian Cardona-Gutierrez, 7.
Authorities allege Cardona, who was in a relationship with the mother, set the fire shortly before 6:40 a.m. on June 25 while Gutierrez-Salazar and her children were sleeping inside the trailer.
Three days after the fire, police issued arrest warrant for Cardona, charging him with murder, attempted murder, and child endangerment.
Cardona tried to flee, but he was apprehended by the US Marshals Service. He had been deported from the US three times but repeatedly returned illegally.
Teenage illegal immigrant charged with murder
In New Orleans, a teenage illegal immigrant and two others were charged with the murder of a 43-year-old woman.
19-year-old Joshua Aviala-Bonifacio, of Honduras, was one of three individuals teenagers arrested for killing Kristie Thibodeaux on June 30.
Aviala-Bonifacio, who is in the country illegally, was charged with second-degree murder and attempted armed robbery and is being held on a $1.1 million bond.
Border Patrol released him in May 2019 while he was awaiting a deportation hearing. He was still in the United States four years later, when he was arrested in Louisiana for theft in October 2023.
Aviala-Bonifacio was taken into police custody for a second time in February 2024 for theft, contributing to the delinquency of juveniles, and additional charges.
17-year-old Jerben Albarec and 15-year-old Kevin Nunez were also arrested for attempting to rob and succeeding in murdering Thibodeaux, who was a tour guide in the French Quarter.
Nunez, who is already a prolific criminal at a young age, already had an active warrant for his arrest when police picked him up.
He has previous convictions for aggravated assault, illegal possession of a handgun, and domestic battery abuse.
