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Tucson Police confirm that a weapon they found in Jose Guerena's home had been stolen in 2008. SWAT officers killed Guerena in his southwest side home last month when they went to serve a search warrant. Investigators say Guerena pointed an assault rifle at officers when they went in the house.

We want to know what you think: were SWAT officers justified in shooting Guerena?

The SWAT officers who shot and killed a man while serving a search warrant last month gave at least two commands for someone to open the door before knocking it open, according to documents released Friday. The officers told investigators that, upon opening the door, they saw a man appear in the hallway holding a rifle before they saw what they thought were muzzle flashes from his gun. It was later determined Jose Guerena's rifle was on safety and he didn't fire at the officers. The Pima County Sheriff's Department released hundreds of evidence photos and transcribed interviews with the...

TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) - Pima County Superior Court Judge Deborah Bernini has postponed her decision on the warrant unsealing in the fatal SWAT shooting death case that left Jose Guerena, 26, dead. Judge Bernini said during a hearing Tuesday afternoon that she needs to meet with Pima County Sheriff's Investigators to discuss why the records should remain sealed since information has already been released in the case. Mike Storie, attorney for Pima County SWAT and Christopher Scileppi, attorney representing the Guerena family have already spoken publicly about the case. Judge Bernini hopes to have her final ruling made by the end...

As Mike Riggs noted earlier, helmetcam footage of the Pima County, Arizona, Sheriff's Department SWAT raid that killed 26-year-old Marine Iraq veteran Jose Guerena has been released. The footage is part of a larger release that includes a debriefing [pdf] with Sgt. Bob Krygier, the primary supervisor per se during the operation; audio of the 911 call made by widow Vanessa Guerena (the only adult proximate witness to the slaying not affiliated with Arizona law enforcement); and a transcript [pdf] of Vanessa Guerena's interrogation shortly after Jose Guerena's death. Those links come from Fernanda Echávarri's excellent coverage in the Arizona...

Are these indications of cover-up, or just poor reporting? Earlier this week, Pima County Sheriff’s Department acknowledgeda SWAT raid where Tucson resident Jose Guerena was shot and killed during a multi-residence search warrant executed for an alleged home invasion ring. Sergeant Bob Krygier, SWAT supervisor, said no SWAT entered the house, but that shooting commenced “about two or three seconds” after breaching the front door. [Page 3, line 39 of PDF document] Officers didn’t enter Guerena’s house until after sending in a robot to determine he was dead. Reportedly, “about $100,000 in cash, marijuana and firearms were seized that morning...

Helmet camera footage of the SWAT team raid on the home of Jose Guerena has been released. Bob Owen noticed the same thing I did. One of the team members fell in the doorway upon breaching and entering the home. The video speaks for itself, but by way of summary, let’s observe the following. First, Mr. Guerena’s weapon, contrary to initial accounts by the SWAT team, was never taken off of safety. The team took no shots from him. Second, the team mills around for a while before breaching the home. Third, they don’t form into a stack. Fourth, absurdly,...

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN9-TV) – 9-1-1 recordings from a deadly SWAT shooting reveal some tense moments: 911: Is law enforcement at your house, ma'am? Is law enforcement at your house? (Are they) inside or outside your residence? Guerena: They are outside, but they came inside! They were inside. They were (inaudible) going to shoot me. And, I put my kid in front of me. They were going to hit me! 911: Ok, I need you to calm down. Fear and panic from the wife of decorated Marine Jose Guerena's. Vanessa Guerena called 9-1-1 the morning of May 5th, the day SWAT...

TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) - They are the best of the best responding to the worst situation in Tucson. Let's put it this way, when Police call 91-1 they get S.W.A.T. Little is known about the team members that make up Special Weapons and Tactics. They are the highly skilled and specially trained to handle every and any emergency. David Ortiz, a Medic with S.W.A.T. says," The goal for the S.W.A.T. Team really is to save lives." Before you sit side by side with the most elite part of the Tucson Police force on you to way to resolve a high risk...

Jose Guerena, 26, was killed when a SWAT team came to his house to serve a search warrant Guerena's wife, Vanessa, said the SWAT team did not identify themselves Thinking it was a home invasion, Guerena got his rifle Now, Pima County Sheriff's officials are refuting original claims that Guerena fired at the SWAT members. In fact, they confirmed his safety was still on when his gun was recovered. Also, officials said that reports that some SWAT officers' shields were riddled with bullets are also untrue. SWAT gunned Jose down with 71 rounds fired in just about seven seconds; officials...

TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) - 9 On Your Side has uncovered startling new information in the case of a man SWAT team members killed Thursday. Medical attention was standing by to try to save Jose Guereña. Paramedics waited more than an hour. Then deputies sent them away By then Guereña was dead.

The five SWAT officers who shot and killed 26-year-old Jose Guerena while serving a search warrant May 5 have been cleared of any wrongdoing. The Pima County Regional SWAT team members -from four law enforcement agencies in the county - were justified in using deadly force against Guerena, according to an investigation by the Pima County Attorney's Office.

Poll asks if Pima County Sheriff's Department should reconsider using SWAT team to execute search warrants.

TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) – The raid on former Marine Jose Guerena's home has garnered national and international attention, raising numerous questions about excessive force and proper SWAT protocol, with Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik at the center on an increasingly heated and political debate. The Pima County Sheriff's Department released limited information on the debate, including yielding hundreds of documents, granting an interview with a lieutenant and raw video on the raid. Meanwhile, Dupnik has refused interviews, citing the need to maintain the integrity of the investigation. However, the raw video has not quelled the debate over the SWAT raid or...

The man killed in a SWAT team raid last month had been under investigation by the Pima County Sheriff's Department for 20 months as part of a major drug and homicide investigation, Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said Tuesday during an editorial meeting with the Star. But details of the investigation into Jose Guerena's activities won't be released because an informant for the Sheriff's Department could be in danger, Dupnik said. "There's a chance that our informant is going to get killed," he said. Guerena was killed when SWAT officers fired 71 rounds from the front door of his home in the...

The man killed in a SWAT team raid last month had been under investigation by The Pima County Sheriff’s Department for 20 months as part of a major drug and homicide investigation, Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said Tuesday during an editorial meeting with the Star. But details of the investigation into Jose Guerena’s activities won’t be released because a criminal informant for the sheriff’s department could be in danger, Dupnik said. “There’s a chance that our informant is going to get killed,” he said. Guerena died after SWAT officers fired 71 rounds from the front door of his home in the...

TUCSON, Ariz. – The death of a former Marine near Tucson continues to stir controversy. A group spent this Memorial Day protesting the SWAT raid which led to his death. Investigation documents reveal officers seized guns, banking documents and other items from the home but did not find drugs or cash.

"Why, why did you kill him?" a traumatized Vanessa Guerena begged to know as she was interrogated in a makeshift "command center" by detectives from the same Sheriff's Office that had just slaughtered her husband Jose. Her questioners, eager to exploit her trauma to extract information, initially refused to give her a straightforward answer. Jose, who had finished a graveyard shift at the Asarco copper mine, was sleeping when a SWAT team from the Pima County Sheriff's Office laid siege to his home on the morning of May 5. Vanessa was doing laundry, and the couple's four-year-old son Joel was...

Records released by the Pima County Sheriff's Department this week show that the four houses served with search warrants the morning of May 5 - when Jose Guerena was shot and killed by a SWAT team - are less than four miles apart and are all connected to the Guerena family. And while initial reports were that doctors told the Guerena family that Jose had been shot 60 times, the Pima County medical examiner's preliminary report says he was shot 22 times. In its sole briefing on the incident, the Sheriff's Department said SWAT team members fired 71 rounds. Aside...

A defense attorney for the Pima County Sheriff's SWAT team defended the actions of the officers, saying it was a "standard operation." "When you take into account five shooters, it doesn't seem excessive," says Mike Storie. The five officers fired 71 shots into a small hallway in seven seconds, killing former Marine Jose Guerena. Officers were trying to serve a search warrant, and say the 26-year-old pointed a gun at them. "This is a standard operation," says Storie. "The only thing unusual about this operation is unseen." Unseen, because while a one-minute videotape released by the sheriff's department shows the...