Peoria police seek suspect in shooting of officer
by Taylor Hill - Apr. 13, 2011 06:32 PM
The Arizona Republic- 12 News Breaking News Team
http://www.azcentral.com/community/peoria/articles/
2011/04/13/20110413Peoria-Police-Shooting-Suspect-Search-abrk.html
Police are still looking for a man who shot a special agent of the
attorney general last Friday, authorities said Wednesday.
According to Jay Davies of the Peoria Police Department, the
undercover agent was following two vehicles believed to be involved
in drug trafficking when the driver of one of those vehicles,
Fernando Torres-Hernandez, 35, rammed the agent's car with a white
pickup truck.
Police arrested Torres-Hernandez at the scene and he remains in custody.
While Torres-Hernandez rammed the agent's vehicle, authorities say, a
gold Chrysler Pacifica pulled up next to the officer's vehicle.
Police suspect the driver of the Pacifica, identified as Edgar Angel
Tapia-Rios, 33, shot at the agent, hitting him in the shoulder and
neck before driving away, Davies said. The agent was treated at a
local trauma center and released.
Police are still seeking Tapia-Rios, who is described as a Hispanic
male, 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighing approximately 185 pounds. He
has black hair and brown eyes.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Tapia-Rios is
encouraged to call the Peoria tip line at 623-773-7045 or Silent
Witness at 480-WITNESS.
Agents seize six illegal aliens, marijuana
April 12, 2011 7:13 PM
BY JAMES GILBERT - SUN STAFF WRITER
http://www.yumasun.com/news/agents-69163-marijuana-six.html
Yuma Sector Border Patrol agents seized more than 227 pounds of
marijuana and apprehended six illegal aliens near Gila Bend on Monday.
The seized marijuana had an estimated street value of $113,500.
According to a news release by Agent Robert Lowry of the Yuma Sector
Communications Division, Wellton Station agents found evidence of
several subjects in the desert near Gila Bend.
Agents tracked the footprints and in time apprehended six subjects.
Agents subsequently discovered five hidden backpacks filled with
marijuana.
The marijuana was seized and the subjects were processed for
prosecution.
Note: trying for a job at DHS?
Juárez mayor says residents feel secure
by Zahira Torres and Aileen B. Flores \ Austin Bureau
Posted: 04/12/2011 06:53:55 AM MDT
http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_17823555
Juárez Mayor Hector Murguia told Texas lawmakers that his city is
slowly getting back to normal, do you agree? Read story
Total Votes = 1095
Yes. 2.009 %
No. 93.05 %
I need more information. 4.931 %
AUSTIN -- Six months into his tenure, Juárez Mayor Héctor Murguía
Lardizábal has a surprising public message for outsiders: Juárez
residents generally feel safe.
"I cannot speak for everyone," Murguía told the El Paso Times while
in Austin on Monday. But he added, "I feel that as a whole many
people feel secure. Of course, with certain precautions."
That message is one that is not often heard, as the Mexican city
battles against drug-cartel violence that has left nearly 8,000 dead
since 2008. It is a message that seems to mark a shift in the image
that Juárez leaders want to portray about El Paso's sister city.
Experts say that perhaps it is a message that will be pushed more as
leaders try to encourage the
economic development they say is desperately needed to keep the
city's youth working and out of trouble.
"It's definitely a strategy of image maintenance and in some ways
it's a message he has to push," said Richard Piñeda, associate
director of UTEP's Sam Donaldson Center for Communication Studies.
In recent years, Juárez has at times looked desolate and deserted as
residents lock themselves indoors or have fled to the United States
or other parts of Mexico for safe haven. But Murguía said the city is
now more tranquil and residents have again begun filling public
places such as parks and movie theaters.
"Yes, there are deaths just like there are deaths in Monterrey and
like there are deaths in Tamaulipas, but we need to start
showing the strengths that we have," Murguía said.
He added that he considers the moniker of being the most dangerous
city in the world "a false cross that we were given to bear."
Murders in the first three months of the year went from about 186 in
2008 to about 614 in 2010. During the first three months of this
year, 626 people were killed in Juárez, according to figures by the
Chihuahua state attorney general's office.
Juárez resident Carolina Martinez, 21, said nothing has changed for
people in her city. Martinez said residents continue to live under
heavy stress and many no longer go out at night. Those who do, she
said, always maintain thoughts in the back of their minds that
something bad could happen.
Martinez, a medical student at the Autonomous University of Ciudad
Juárez who has to go to class every day despite violence in the
streets, has a simple explanation for why things may seem to have
improved.
"The truth is, eventually one gets used to living in fear," Martinez
said. "We are human beings and human beings get used to their
environment."
Murguía, who visited Austin at the invitation of state Sen. José
Rodríguez, D-El Paso, said his goal was to dispel myths about both
Juárez and El Paso, as well as to draw more funds to the border
region to encourage economic participation.
The Juárez mayor did not speak publicly but met privately with Lt.
Gov. David Dewhurst. Rodríguez also recognized Murguía on the Senate
floor for his fervent advocacy of trade through Juárez and El Paso,
which represents 15 percent of the total trade between the United
States and Mexico.
"Despite the headlines and the ongoing drug violence that we hear
about in the city, Mayor Murguía continues to work to increase
commerce, strengthen small and midsize industrial development and
improve border relations," Rodríguez told senators.
Many of Juárez's problems stem from systemic injustices that include
a lack of jobs, education and economic stability for residents,
Murguía said. Most residents cope under such circumstances, but
desperation pushes some into delinquency, he said.
For Murguía, those obstacles cannot simply be solved with police and
guns. He said any approach by the United States that focuses on
militarizing the U.S.-Mexico border or on targeting undocumented
immigrants is also not a viable solution to curbing violence and the
drug trade.
"They are aspirins for a patient with cancer," Murguía said.
Murguía said a solution will come from fostering additional economic
and commerce-driven cooperation between the two countries, and from
creating an exchange of ideas on social issues such as health care
and education that will better the lives of Juarenses.
He also said that more of the funding that Mexico receives from the
United States through the Merida Initiative -- a multiyear program
that helps the governments of some Latin American countries confront
criminal organizations -- should be directed towards Juárez.
Both the United States and Mexico have stakes in Juárez's future, he
said. One way the United States can help is by slowing the flow of
illegal weapons into Mexico, Murguía said.
The Mexican government can invest more in building social and
physical infrastructure in Juárez, which it had started doing but has
neglected for decades, Murguía said.
Still, collaboration must be at the forefront of any efforts to help
Juárez, he said.
"In the worst dream that I could have had, in a nightmare where I ate
too much food and the little devils show up at night, I could have
never imagined what has happened," he said of the violence that
sprouted in Juárez since his last term as mayor from 2004-07.
Zahira Torres may be reached at ztorres@elpasotimes.com,512-479-6606.
Aileen B. Flores may be reached at aflores@elpasotimes.com;546-6362.
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