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One Minute SIlence - Pig Until Proven Cop |
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You have to love the bullshit our government does.----------
Grieving family blasts feds over claims in shooting of teen
By Maro Robbins
Express-News Staff Writer
Web Posted : 02/12/2003 4:26 PM
As family members arranged today for the funeral of a 14-year-old shot during a stakeout, they lashed out in grief at the federal government's suggestion that the youth was to blame for her own death.
Ashley Villarreal?s uncle, Pete Villarreal, sobbing after he came back from arranging the funeral today, called the shooting senseless.
He said that nothing the girl did was suspicious enough to justify agents opening fire. As he put it, her only crime was driving around the block without headlights and without a license.
"She was killed because she committed a traffic violation," he said.
Ashley died Tuesday evening after her family requested that she be taken off life support.
She suffered a gunshot wound to the head Sunday night when, federal authorities say, an agent from the Drug Enforcement Agency opened fire on a darkened car South San Joaquin Street that had accelerated toward him. The girl was behind the wheel of the car.
The agents were there to get the girl's father, Joey Angel Villarreal, a three-time convicted drug offender who turned himself in and was charged with cocaine trafficking a day after the shooting.
The Villarreal family and friends have disputed the federal authorities? claims.
Villarreal said he was frustrated at how the government emphasized the fact that the car didn't have headlights on. He asked how many people have not driven without lights for a stretch when they pulled away from their home or a parking lot?
"There was no reason for anyone to die," he said.
According to officials, Sunday's incident began when agents watched two figures driving without headlights from the house in a hurry after 11 p.m. As agents tried to block the car's path, the driver accelerated.
Believing the car was going to ram him, an agent on foot opened fire twice. The agent was "clipped" but not hurt by the vehicle. The car went into reverse and an agent standing behind it discharged two additional shots. Ashley was the only one wounded.
Daniel Robles, a 44-year-old friend of the family who was riding in the car with Ashley, claimed Tuesday that a car tailed closely behind their car immediately after pulling out of the driveway. Ashley, who was moving the car behind the house, said she thought they were being followed and sped up.
Another vehicle, a pickup, came at them from the front, Robles said. When Ashley veered right onto Motes Street, they collided.
Robles said the agents opened fire immediately after the crash and didn't identify themselves until afterward.
Officials have declined to respond to Robles' version or to discuss details of the case, citing a pending investigation.
Visitation for Ashley starts at 2 p.m. Thursday, followed by a rosary at 7 p.m. at the Castillo Mission Funeral Home at 520 N. Gen. McMullen Drive.
The following day, a Mass has been scheduled for 10 a.m. at St. Jude's Catholic Church at 130 S. San Augustine St. Burial will follow at San Fernando Cemetery No. 2.
"A 14-year-old girl," Pete Villarreal said, "should not be buried on Valentine's Day."
mrobbins@express-news.net
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"It isn't a war against drugs, it's a war against personal freedom. Keep that in mind at all times."
-- Bill Hicks
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