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DinoDoc
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AECCP loves Democracy
Sep 1999
time: 23:20
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I wonder if we'll see any reaction against the Denver mayor over this:
quote:
'He shot the officers'
Suspect confessed to gunning down pair, his girlfriend says
By Fernando Quintero and Sarah Langbein, Rocky Mountain News
May 11, 2005
The girlfriend of a man accused of killing one Denver detective and wounding another says he made a bedside confession to her just hours after leaving a baptismal party that ended in bloodshed.
Sandra Rivas, who hoped to marry the father of her 3-week-old daughter, said Tuesday that suspect Raul Garcia-Gomez admitted to shooting the officers and pleaded for forgiveness before fleeing their home.
Rivas told the Rocky Mountain News that she sensed something was wrong with Garcia-Gomez, 19, when the pair returned home from the party early Sunday.
At 5 a.m., she finally asked what was wrong.
"He said, 'I'm going to tell you. Please forgive me.' And then he told me he had shot the security officers," Rivas said. "I told him he had to turn himself in."
The news of an alleged confession capped off a day of developments that began at a 3 a.m. news conference, where bleary-eyed police announced they had a suspect in the Sunday shootings of detectives John Bishop and Donald Young, who later died.
Denver Police Division Chief Dave Fisher said an anonymous tip to the CrimeStoppers line on Monday morning led investigators to Garcia-Gomez, who police believe may have fled the state.
Authorities are focusing their attention on Las Vegas, Nev., and Los Angeles, where Garcia-Gomez has family and friends. Police are also concerned he may try to cross the border into Mexico, where he was born. The suspect has no known relatives there, but authorities have obtained a federal warrant accusing him of unauthorized flight to avoid prosecution.
As officers across the country remain on the lookout, Denver cops are anxiously awaiting a second tip that will lead them directly to the alleged killer.
"He is treacherous, and he will not go easily," Police Chief Gerry Whitman said. "That's what I predict."
Eviction and then rage
On their final night together, Rivas and Garcia-Gomez celebrated the baptism of her infant cousin at Salon Ocampo, a banquet hall on West Mississippi Avenue.
The couple danced to the music of her uncle's band, Grupo Cautivos, and feasted on chicken mole.
"We had all gone to the party together," said Rivas, 18. "It was thrown by my uncle, so we were all invited. At one point, he (Garcia-Gomez) left the party. I went to look for him when I noticed he had been gone awhile. I just figured he had gone home."
Rivas' mother, Rosalva, said the music and dancing had ended when shots rang out.
"We were eating cake," Rosalva Rivas said. "We heard gunshots. People ran and screamed and gathered in a corner away from the front entrance, where the shots were fired. I looked for my children. That's the first and only thing that came to my mind."
Sandra Rivas returned to her family's home on South Vrain Street around 1:30 a.m. Sunday. Garcia-Gomez walked in about a half-hour later, looking sad and nervous.
Her boyfriend confided in her before dawn, she said.
"It turned out security didn't let him back in," Rivas said. "He tried to get in with my brother and my cousin. He said his wife and daughter were inside the hall, but they still wouldn't let him in. He tried to force his way in when one of the officers grabbed him by the neck and the arm. I guess that got him angry. I don't know."
Later that morning, while Rivas was half asleep, Garcia-Gomez kissed her on the forehead, kissed their baby and departed. He had packed some of his clothes.
"I'm so scared," said Rivas from her bedroom as a Spanish-language soap opera flickered in the background.
"What he said he did is unimaginable."
Rosalva Rivas had mixed feelings of disbelief and concern for her family's safety.
"I never imagined he would do something like that," she said of her daughter's boyfriend. "I still can't believe it. We don't know what to do. We're afraid of Raul coming back home. We don't know what he'll do. We don't know what the police will do."
One more tip is needed
Denver police have posted the suspect's picture in all their patrol cruisers and are counting on agencies across the country to join the hunt for the suspect, who had been kicked out of the baptismal party twice before the shooting, according to a source close to the investigation.
Fisher, who heads the investigations division, said officers have not found any information indicating that Garcia-Gomez has a criminal history but added that the suspect may use a variety of names.
Department leaders said most detectives on the case haven't gone home since the shooting, as is evident by their unchanged clothing.
"They're running on adrenaline and doughnuts, I think," Whitman said.
The chief said he believes an arrest is just a phone call away.
"We need one more tip," he said.
Rosalva Rivas shares her modest-sized rental home in northwest Denver with her daughter, Garcia-Gomez, and the couple's baby, Jameled Stacey. Rosalva Rivas' husband, Leopoldo, and five of their other children also live there.
"I'm afraid for my daughter," Rosalva Rivas said. "She hasn't come out of her room or eaten since Sunday."
Surrounded by stuffed animals and a large picture of the Virgin of Guadalupe above her bed, Sandra Rivas described her boyfriend as a hard-working, relatively mild-mannered young man who adored his infant daughter.
She met Garcia-Gomez shortly before she moved from Los Angeles to Denver with her family. They were introduced at the home of one of his cousins. She became pregnant with his baby just days after they met. She said Garcia-Gomez also had a baby out of wedlock with another girl he had met in Los Angeles before her.
Sandra Rivas said Garcia-Gomez had immigrated to Los Angeles from Durango, Mexico. He attended high school there but didn't graduate. When the couple moved to Denver with her family, her uncle, who is the kitchen manager at the Cherry Cricket restaurant, got Garcia-Gomez a job as a dishwasher there.
"He went to work and came straight home every night," she said. "He didn't hang out with any bad people. His few friends were his co-workers at the restaurant."
She said Garcia-Gomez never seemed violent to her. "He had his moments. When he got angry, he got silent. He held everything in," she said.
Rivas said she didn't know where Garcia-Gomez got the gun he used to shoot the officers and denied knowing where he may be hiding.
"If he's not here (in Denver), he's in Los Angeles, where his family lives," she said. "All his family lives there. His mother, his father, uncles, cousins, grandparents."
Despite the devastating news, Rosalva Rivas said her family is trying to move forward. Her daughter, however, is coping with an uncertain future.
"We were going to get married after our daughter was baptized," Sandra Rivas said, her eyes growing red with tears. "I don't know what the future holds now."
Tuesday's developments
• Search: Police across the country search for Raul Garcia-Gomez, suspected of killing Detective Donald Young and wounding Detective John Bishop.
• Confession: The girlfriend of the 19-year-old suspect tells the Rocky Mountain News that he confessed to her several hours after the shooting, alleging that the officers had roughed him up when tossing him out of a baptism party.
• Illegal immigrant: Investigators discover that Garcia-Gomez worked for a restaurant co-owned by Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper. A manager confirms he was hired based on bogus documents.
• Off-duty police work: A Denver councilwoman wants to re-evaluate officers' off-duty work after city officials rule that Young was killed in the line of duty, meaning his widow will receive full benefits.
• Donations: The community comes together, donating money and praying for Young. Young's father-in-law and friends remember a kind and committed family man with a passion for motorcycles. |
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16-05-2005 05:11
Attachment: 
If not, then why should Americans have those jobs instead of other people abroad? Are they not as good?
Pay more instead of less
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