Where’s Justice For Marine José Guerena, 71 Bullets Later?

When you shoot at a man 71 times in 7 seconds, your intentions are clear: kill — not subdue or arrest.

When a Special Weapons and Tactics Team (SWAT) shoots at a suspect 71 times, naturally, it gives credit to the idea that SWAT teams use tactics which are increasingly unsafe, and aggressively reckless. In other words, if SWAT teams train excessively (marksmanship, dexterity, cohesion) to increase their efficiency, shouldn’t they be able to control their trigger fingers — or at least set them to “maim” or “subdue,” instead of “exterminate”?

And yet, when the Pima County SWAT team entered the house that belonged to José Guerena, 26, a Tucson Marine deployed twice to Iraq since 2002, they fired 71 shots into him. Guerena, who had grabbed his AR-15 and trained it on the front door, did so because witnesses said these highly trained police failed to identify themselves. Then, although the Pima Country Police initially reported that the SWAT team had only returned fire, though it was later confirmed that Guerena never actually discharged his weapon at all.

All police have said they found so far was a picture of the narco saint Jesús Malverde.

Guerena, his wife Vanessa, and their two sons reportedly moved into the house recently. Isn’t it possible that the ex-tenants were the ones that Pima County SWAT team was serving with a “no-knock” warrant? According to his wife, Vanessa, Jose Guerena had just come home from a 12-hour night shift at the Asarco mine and did not hear police being conspicuous and clearly identifying themselves. Maybe, Guerena thought, the four or five armed men encroaching on his home were going to rob him and possibly kill his family. What if the radio or television were on as  Guerena came home from a night shift, and the Pima County SWAT team didn’t identify themselves as clearly as they think they had?

Isn’t it possible Guerena thought that the right afforded to him by the Second Amendment — the right to bear arms — was going to allow him to protect his person, his wife, and his child from what he perceived as “home invaders”? Maybe the problem is that these questions pose post-mortem insinuations, instead of justification of the severity of the force used. The Pima County Police Department has said that the warrant they were serving was a full-on minor siren invasion— definitely not a “no-knock warrant.”

Moreover, the Pima County Police Department reportedly ordered an ambulance at 9:43 a.m. for an officer they thought injured, and then canceled once it was established that no officers had been injured. All as Guerena lay injured on the floor, bleeding profusely.

SWAT teams are a necessary evil; they protect taxpayers against some very devious and dangerous criminals. However, that does not give them the right to act like SEAL team 6 and pump 71 semi-automatic bullets into every “suspect” they encounter. Remember: in our system of law, people are presumed innocent until proven guilty, which means that before we can dole out punishment, we have to ensure we are prosecuting the right person. With the power to enforce the law comes the responsibility to be held accountable to it; excessive force of this kind is not in keeping with that responsibility, and ignores rigorous training protocols.

Yago Cura is a writer based in Los Angeles. He edits the online journal Hinchas de Poesia and moderates the blog Spicaresque.