Posted on 09/16/2004 10:16:04 PM PDT by Conservative Firster
TWO VIDEO LINKS ON RIGHT HAND SIDE PLAYLIST!!
An FBI agent shot an acquaintance of a border watch group member while trying to serve an arrest warrant, FBI officials said Thursday.
The shooting happened about 11:15 p.m. Wednesday in a grocery store parking lot in Douglas along the southeastern Arizona border with Mexico.
According to the FBI, the agent was trying to serve an arrest warrant on Casey Nethercott of Douglas. Nethercott is a known member of Ranch Rescue, a group that works to protect private property along the southern U.S. border.
Ranch Rescue and several other unauthorized groups have been patrolling along the border looking for illegal immigrants, raising concerns among migrants rights groups about potential abuses.
At the time, Nethercott was with 22-year-old Kalen Riddle, also of Douglas.
Charlene Thornton, special agent in charge of the Phoenix FBI office, said that "actions taken by Nethercott and Riddle led one of the FBI agents to fire his weapon."
The FBI would not elaborate and said it won't release the name of the agent who fired the shot, in keeping with FBI policy.
Riddle was airlifted to a Tucson hospital, but FBI officials did not know his condition.
Nethercott was arrested Wednesday and is in federal custody. An FBI spokeswoman confirmed agents searched Nethercott's Douglas ranch on Thursday afternoon.
The warrant the FBI was trying to serve alleges that Nethercott threatened Border Patrol agents.
According to the warrant, Nethercott refused to pull over for Border Patrol agents on Aug. 31. After a slow-speed chase, the warrant said that Nethercott entered "a compound in Douglas occupied by members of Ranch Rescue." Riddle was identified as one of the people there.
Agents said the Ranch Rescue members were heavily armed and had night vision equipment.
After Border Patrol agents yelled for Nethercott to show his hands, the affidavit says Nethercott refused, and responded:
"I'm going to take care of this myself, we're going to have a shootout."
The affidavit does not say how the standoff ended.
There was no listing for Riddle in Douglas. A phone message left Thursday at a residence listed for Nethercott was not returned.
Nethercott, 37, has a criminal record. He was convicted of assault with a firearm in California and was on parole when he joined Ranch Rescue.
In June, he was also found guilty by a Texas jury of felony firearm possession. The jury was deadlocked on a second charge that accused Nethercott of pistol-whipping an illegal immigrant near a Texas ranch.
Douglas rancher Roger Barnett, who is not part of Ranch Rescue, supports the measures Nethercott took to stop illegal immigration.
He compared the shooting of Riddle to Branch Davidians, who fought federal agents in Waco, Texas.
"Citizens have to get out and protect themselves," Barnett said. "And this is what it leads to."
wow, how clever. Guess you can't think too well because you're so scard.
Are you just interested in having the last word or what? I have said what I want to say about this matter.
If you must have the last word, go for it.
Do you think death by lethal injection is scary?
Yet people still murder.
Do you think getting 20 years to life in prison for selling drugs (over 650 grams of cocaine) is scary?
Yet there are many dope dealers out there.
Is running a red light illegal?
Ever see someone blow a red light? Ever speed through one yourself?
On one hand conservatives want the Government OUT of our lives, on the other hand lets have scary Border agents, FBI, BATF???
The fact is, if death row doesn't stop killers from killing, warning shots or even out right fire-fights are NOT going to stop illegals from crossing the border any way they can.
The only thing that can be done is to slow the flow. Even Israel can't keep homocide bombs out, don't ya think they'd want to???
Thank you for your courtesy BOT.
We'll have to wait until 2008 to see if your party wins now won't we. If it loses, you can thank us hominids for voting CP, and you can thank yourselves for allowing the R Party to desintigrate for your PC amoral causes. Got to keep the big tent and all.
You'd be surprised how many Christian Conservatives will not vote THIS year, much less in 2008. You're attitute rings of desperation because you know your ship has sprung a leak.
And believe me, the party knows we will make it or break it in 2008 if it fails to change direction. I can point to several op-eds, but since you read I'm sure you've seen them. Enough said. The writing is on the wall.
A vote for a "slower decline" is not progress, but you appeasers will never see that because you are the ones who refuse to fight to change the party in the interest of "votes."
Funny.........the Kerry people are saying the exact samething.
Do I smell a merger??
I love the fact citizens are protecting the border the old fashioned way but don't make it hard on the Border Patrol either.
These guys need to have the attitude of "law and order every time" or they will lose the support of the people.
This is not Waco and to compare it is nuts! Hell this isn't even Ruby Ridge!
Anyone driving along the border strip is going to be of interest to the Border Patrol--after all, he could be getting ready to pick up illegal aliens.
I've been pulled over three times by the Border Patrol. I never seem to get into trouble--but, then again, I don't promise them that I'll start a shootout.
IN CAL, THIS COULD MEAN HE WAS DEFENDING HIMSELF.
Unlikely. You really have to work at
In June, he was also found guilty by a Texas jury of felony firearm possession.
SO MUCH FOR THE SECOND AMENDMENT.
Convicted felons lose their 2A rights.
The jury was deadlocked on a second charge that accused Nethercott of pistol-whipping an illegal immigrant near a Texas ranch.
THE ILLEGAL IS LUCKY HE WAS STILL BREATHING.
There are some people who deserve to get burned to a crisp by the FBI. Folks like you who think that it's perfectly OK to commit extrajudicial murder have no grounds whatsoever for complaint when it happens to them...
Welcome to the anti-illegal-immigrant-nutball wing of Free Republic. Your post shows that you are using logic and common sense. These are scarce commodities in here.
Let me know when you have a contribution to make.
Your demands are boring.
This police action is not happening because Nethercott is a private property owner. It is happening because he has threatened to shoot federal law enforcement officers.
He may be doing the right thing out there in AZ with regards to illegal immigrants but he is out of control and going about it in a way that makes this type of police action inevitable.
One measure to curb illegal immigration would include the use of Federal troops. (I am aware of the Posse Commutates Act, but defense of the borders would fall under the military's primary mission of defending the country.) Another measure would entail building ugly, but necessary, walls and other barriers. Higher scrutiny of border crossings is yet another vital measure. There would be some economic costs, as it would hurt border cities like San Diego, El Paso, and Brownsville on our Mexican frontier and Buffalo, Sault Ste. Marie, and Detroit on our Canadian frontier.
We can speculate as to why neither political party wants to stem the tide of illegal immigration. Unless it is severely curbed, the United States will be transformed, and not for the better. I do not want my grandchildren to live their lives in a temperate zone Brazil or be forced to learn Spanish for economic survival.
That is of course a good point. But..
It took years and years and citizens who were willing to suffer the verbal abuse and ridicule of both fellow citizens and their government to get the facts (most of them anyway) about Ruby Ridge and Waco.
The Congressional hearings probably saved the lives of countless American citizens as the Congress, actually doing its job, reminded federal authorities that their role is law enforcement not breaking things and killing people.
To be fair, and going by what G Gordon Liddy said (as best I can remember), the renegade federal authorities were mostly in organizations that were dumping grounds for employees who were unwanted by the parent agency.
No, we cannot just wait. We have to demand facts. There are still far too many heavily-armed misfit psychos ready to act out war movies on their fellow citizens if the past is any indication. IMO.
Of course you have it wrong. No one is going after anyone "for trying to protect their property" but for felony assault.
CP? Heck, the apparent standard-bearers for UberKonservatizm are Ralph Nader and his Socialist Worker's Party cohort, who will close the border, protect American workers, and persecute those evil, greedy corporations.
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