DPS has fired at vehicles from helicopters 5 times in past two years on U.S.-Mexico border

Borderland Beat

Records show 1 of 5 vehicles was disabled by shots prior to October incident that killed two Guatemalan men

Texas Department of Public Safety officers have fired guns from helicopters while pursuing vehicles five times over the past two years, according to new information on the practice obtained by the American-Statesman.

According to the records, released by the agency Friday after several public information requests, the tactic was clearly successful in only one instance.

Details of the incidents, which all occurred along the Mexican border, raise additional questions about the necessity and effectiveness of a policy that experts have said is almost unheard of in other law enforcement agencies due to the high risks associated with firing a weapon from a moving helicopter at a speeding vehicle.

DPS Helicopter kills 2

The practice has been under scrutiny since Oct. 25, when a DPS trooper fired into a pickup racing along a South Texas dirt road near La Joya, killing two Guatemalan men hidden in the bed under a blanket. A third man was injured by the gunfire.

The chase began after Texas Parks and Wildlife Department game wardens spotted the truck and called the DPS for air assistance after it refused to stop. Following the incident, the DPS explained that officers may use gunfire to end a high-speed chase that threatens the lives of bystanders.

The trooper, Miguel Avila, shot as the truck was speeding toward a school more than a mile away, which the DPS said posed a potential danger to students. Alba Caceres, the Guatemalan consul in McAllen, has said the men in the truck had “no guns, no drugs.” Texas Rangers are investigating.

In practice, the airborne marksmen aim at a fleeing vehicle’s tires to disable it. But, as the deadly October incident demonstrated, they don’t always hit their intended target.

On Oct. 21, 2010, a DPS officer in a helicopter fired a single shot at a fleeing vehicle suspected of smuggling narcotics — but missed the car. “Round did not hit vehicle,” the agency’s summary of the incident stated.

The vehicle was eventually stopped when officers threw down spikes to puncture its tires. Although 800 pounds of marijuana was recovered, “two suspects abandoned vehicle and fled to Mexico,” the report concluded.

In another case, on Sept. 13 of this year, a DPS rifleman fired three rounds at a vehicle reported by Mission police to be stolen. From the report, however, it is unclear whether the bullets played a role in ending the chase; Mission police couldn’t provide additional details Friday.

“Three bullet holes were later found in the vehicle,” according to the DPS report. “Three suspects exited vehicle and fled to Mexico.” Just over 1,000 pounds of marijuana were recovered.

In a third pursuit, it is unclear from the report why a DPS officer fired shots.

On June 2, 2011, a state helicopter joined Starr County sheriff’s deputies in pursuit of a vehicle. The report doesn’t specify why the driver was being chased; Sheriff Rene Fuentes didn’t return a call for comment Friday afternoon.

In the course of that chase, Highway Patrol officers also threw down two strips of spikes, a tactic the report describes as “successful,” deflating three of the car’s tires.

When the vehicle continued to speed away, smoking and throwing off rubber debris, according to the report, a DPS shooter in a helicopter fired five rounds “in an unsuccessful attempt to stop the vehicle.” It is unclear from the report whether any rounds hit the vehicle.

“Driver eventually came to a stop and fled on foot, after which he was quickly taken into custody,” the report concluded.

Of the five pursuits the agency has now disclosed in which DPS officers have fired from helicopters at fleeing vehicles, only one was clearly effective, according to the DPS summary of incidents.

On Sept. 23, 2010, Starr County sheriff’s deputies began chasing a vehicle after it evaded officers, the report states, adding: “During high speed pursuit, vehicle nearly struck other vehicles and began to drive toward a more populated area. From helicopter, DPS commissioned officer fired one round at vehicle’s tire, which deflated.”

According to the report, the vehicle came to a stop and the driver was taken into custody. “25 lbs marijuana, one baggie cocaine and open beer recovered from vehicle,” the DPS report concluded.

Fast and Furious Guns at Mexican Beauty Queen’s Shootout

A Romanian AK-47-typeWASR-10 rifle and a pistol were found at the crime scene where a Mexican beauty queen, Maria Susana Flores Gamez, and four others were shot dead in the city of Guamúchil, Sinaloa state, in November, reported CBS News.

The Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday that another weapon at the same crime scene—a 5.7 mm pistol—also came from the botched Fast and Furious, an operation under the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). In the program, some 2,000 weapons were lost and allowed to flow across the Mexican border and likely into the hands of violent cartel members.

The crime scene is apparently where suspected Sinaloa drug cartel operatives engaged in a shootout with members of the Mexican military.

Borderland Beat: Beauty Queen Died with gun...

CBS News Beauty Photos

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) told CBS that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) did not tell Congress of the latest Fast and Furious gun recovery during the November Sinaloa shootout. Grassley has previously requested that the DOJ inform Congress of any weapons that are found in connection with the gunrunning operation.

Senator Grassley has sent a letter to the Justice Department requesting more information, and asking whether the officials were planning to notify Congress "that a Fast and Furious weapon had been recovered."

Background: Fast and Furious AK-47-type rifles were found at the murder scene of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in December 2010. In September 2011, ATF estimated that Fast and Furious weapons had been recovered at eight violent crimes in Mexico. As CBS News has reported, guns trafficked under ATF's watch in a separate investigation were also used in the murder of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agent Jaime Zapata in Mexico in February 2011. The families of both Terry and Zapata are suing government officials for alleged negligence and related claims. Brian Terry family sues ATF officials in Fast and Furious.

Grassley Docs. on Uriel Patino

CBS traced records showing that Uriel Patino, a suspect who allegedly bought more than 700 Fast and Furious guns, owned the AK-47-type WASR-10 at one time. The 5.7 mm pistol, identified as an FN Herstal manufacture, was purchased by ATF supervisory agent George Gillett Jr. in January 2010, according to the Times.

Mexico Frees Marine Veteran who tired to bring in shotgun

Relatives of the detainee, Jon Hammar, 27, who was arrested Aug. 13 when he and a friend drove to Mexico from Texas in a motor home, described his release as a holiday surprise.

“It’s like a miracle; that’s the only way I can express it,” said his mother, Olivia Hammar, who lives in Florida. “It’s our little Christmas miracle.”

She said that her husband had flown to Brownsville, Tex. — across the border from Matamoros, where her son has been in prison — and that she expected her son home by Christmas. She added that his arrival might be delayed past Friday because even after a horrendous four months, enduring death threats and ransom demands from members of Mexican drug cartels, her son was determined to get back the confiscated 1972 Winnebago that he drove to Mexico.

“It’s really important to him, and we feel like it’s going to bring him some closure,” she said.

His case has drawn attention and outrage in the United States since early December, when his family decided to go public with the details. Senator Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat, and Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican who is chairwoman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, both campaigned for his release. In interviews and in statements, they have described him as a victim of Mexico’s broken judicial system, which routinely fails to convict killers who use weapons far more powerful than the old shotgun, which had belonged to Mr. Hammar’s great-grandfather.

“Here is the big travesty,” Senator Nelson said this week on Fox News, “the fact that he was picked up in the first place, when obviously he didn’t have any mean, evil intent.”

He added, “There should have been judicial discretion imposed in this long ago.”

But until recently, Mexican authorities were unwilling to discuss the case against Mr. Hammar, whose family said he had notified customs officials on both sides of the border about the gun.

Guns coming from the United States are an especially delicate issue in Mexico, which blames American gun dealers for much of the violence there. Mexico’s ambassador to Washington, Arturo Sarukhan, sent a letter to Ms. Ros-Lehtinen this week arguing that Mexico had a right to imprison Mr. Hammar for carrying a shotgun “restricted for the exclusive use of the Mexican armed forces.”

He emphasized that Mexico had a much tougher stand on guns than the United States. “Mexico has had very stringent gun-control laws in place for many years, and have reinforced their application as a result of the flow of weapons illicitly purchased in the U.S. and then trafficked into Mexico and into the hands of transnational criminal organizations,” he wrote.

It is not clear what led the Mexican government to change its stance. Mrs. Hammar said she was unsure of the reasoning. But she said she looked forward to telling her son, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan — and who had been on his way to Costa Rica to surf when he was arrested — about the support he received while he was in jail. “It’s been awesome to watch Americans get on board to help get him out,” she said.

EPT, NY Times , American-Statesmen