Suspect arrested in police officer's shooting
Matthai Kuruvila, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, August 29, 2010
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(08-28) 20:38 PDT Oakland -- As a Fremont police officer clung to life Saturday, the suspect in his shooting was captured in San Diego just one block away from the U.S.-Mexico border by a sharp-eyed police officer.
Andrew Barrientos shot at two Fremont officers as they tried to arrest him Friday at his East Oakland home on domestic violence charges, police said. Barrientos then shot at the driver of a vehicle he tried to carjack before fleeing in another vehicle taken at gunpoint, police added.
Despite the barrage, the bullets struck only Officer Todd Young, 39, a married father of two who remained in critical but stable condition Saturday after surgery at Highland Hospital in Oakland.
Barrientos' unexpected and explosive resistance had worried police, prompting a statewide alert. In Southern California, officers were ready.
"We had information that he was coming down here," said San Diego police Lt. Andra Brown. "We were looking for him."
After learning Barrientos was nearing the border, Oakland police asked the U.S. Border Patrol to shut the crossing - which they did for about 20 minutes, said Officer Jeff Thomason.
During that time, San Diego police Sgt. Jason Weeden was patrolling an area near the border when he spotted a car containing two men, one of whom resembled Barrientos, 20, who has close-cropped hair, is 5 feet 7 and weighs 240 pounds.
The car pulled in to a parking lot where people who choose to walk into Mexico often leave their cars, Brown said. Weeden saw Barrientos and immediately ordered him and the companion at gunpoint to follow instructions.
Brown and Thomason said there was a brief foot chase that ended just 15 feet before the border.
Barrientos was arrested at 2:59 p.m., almost exactly 24 hours after the shootout with the two Fremont officers. At the time of the arrest, Barrientos was found with a loaded 9mm handgun - the same caliber used to wound Young, police said. He was arrested on two counts of attempted murder of a police officer and two counts of carjacking and will be brought to Alameda County.
Widespread search
Brown said the relationship between Barrientos and the person he was with was unclear. But the companion was arrested for assisting Barrientos.
The dramatic arrest by one officer marked an end to an intense manhunt that had brought together an array of local, state and federal law enforcement officials. Searches were conducted in a number of homes in Union City, where the suspect had ties. He was tattooed with the words "Decoto Gangster" on his forearms and "Decoto" on the back of his neck. Decoto is the name of a Union City neighborhood, and police believe he is part of a larger gang known as the Norteños. A Union City woman, whose identity was not released, was arrested on a charge of harboring a fugitive for helping Barrientos escape from the Bay Area. Police said she was a friend.
Suspect in earlier attack
At the same time, officers, their families and friends were still holding a vigil for Officer Young, the first Fremont police officer shot in the line of duty in at least 19 years.
Fremont Police Chief Craig Steckler was among those who came to the hospital. He said Young was not able to speak Saturday afternoon.
Steckler shook his head at the turn of events in Barrientos' life. Originally wanted on several domestic violence charges, Barrientos now faces numerous other charges, including attempted murder of a police officer.
"And now he's going to go to prison for a long, long time for what he tried to do," he said.
Young has been with the Fremont police force for six years and was with the Newark Police Department for 10 years before that.
Steckler said Young had volunteered to work with the southern Alameda County major crimes task force, which focuses on local gangs. He was looking for more responsibility and more action in his job.
Young and his partner had gone Friday to arrest Barrientos, who was wanted for a string of crimes stemming from an Aug. 12 incident in San Leandro.
In that incident, Barrientos assaulted the mother of his child while she was driving, said Thomason, an Oakland Police Department spokesman. When the woman pulled the car over, Barrientos pointed his gun at her and tried to take over the car, but he then ran away, Thomason said.
Friday in East Oakland, the Fremont police officers spotted Barrientos outside his home on Auseon Avenue. Steckler said Young followed correct procedures, but as Young came around a corner, Barrientos "surprised him."
Barrientos fired 10 rounds, two of which hit Young in the groin and leg, said Steckler, who declined to provide further details.
"Every officer is trained to expect that something could happen when they're out there," Steckler said. "It's a job where you don't get a lot of recognition a lot of the time. Then, all of a sudden, you have these moments of terror."
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More Americans Killed by Illegal Aliens than Iraq War, Study Says
"...if our military can understand that Iraq's security depends in measure on the ability to protect its border against insurgents and terrorists, then why isn't our country similarly protecting our own borders?"
Jim Brown
OneNewsNow.com
February 22, 2007
Illegal aliens are killing more Americans than the Iraq war, says a new report from Family Security Matters that estimates some 2,158 murders are committed every year by illegal aliens in the U.S. The group says that number is more than 15 percent of all the murders reported by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the U.S. and about three times the representation of illegal aliens in the general population.
Mike Cutler, a former senior special agent with the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (the former INS), is a fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies and an advisor to Family Security Matters (FSM). He says the high number of Americans being killed by illegal aliens is just part of the collateral damage that comes with tolerating illegal immigration.
"The military actually called for the BORTAC team, ... the elite unit of the Border Patrol, to be detailed to Iraq to help to secure the Iraqi border," Cutler notes. "Now, if our military can understand that Iraq's security depends in measure on the ability to protect its border against insurgents and terrorists, then why isn't our country similarly protecting our own borders?" he asks.
"We are now five and a half years, nearly, after 9/11, and yet our borders remain open," the Center for Immigration Studies fellow observes. "We have National Guardsmen assigned on the border, but it turns out they are unarmed," he points out. "Their rules of engagement are very simple: if armed intruders head your way, run in the other direction."
This situation would "almost be comical if it wasn't so tragic," Cutler asserts. "If our borders are wide open, this means that drugs, criminals, and terrorists are entering our country just as easily as the dishwashers," he says.
The report from FSM estimates that the 267,000 illegal aliens currently incarcerated in the nation are responsible for nearly 1,300,000 crimes, ranging from drug arrests to rape and murder. Such statistics, Cutler contends, debunk the claim that illegal immigration is a victimless crime. "Then we even have another problem," he adds, "and that's the Visa Waiver Program."
The federal government's Visa Waiver Program enables nationals of certain countries to travel to the United States for tourism or business for stays of 90 days or less without obtaining a visa. According to the U.S. State Department website, the waiver program was established in 1986 with the objective of "eliminating unnecessary barriers to travel," stimulating America's tourism industry, and allowing the government to focus consular resources in other areas.
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According to a recent study from the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center, Hispanics involved in car crashes are two-and-a-half times more likely to be drunk than white drivers and three times more likely to be drunk than black drivers.
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TWELVE AMERICANS MURDERED EACH DAY BY ILLEGALS
By Joseph Farah 2006
WorldNetDaily.com
WASHINGTON – While the military "quagmire" in Iraq was said to tip the scales of power in the U.S. midterm elections, most Americans have no idea more of their fellow citizens – men, women and children – were murdered this year by illegal aliens than the combined death toll of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan since those military campaigns began. Though no federal statistics are kept on murders or any other crimes committed by illegal aliens, a number of groups have produced estimates based on data collected from prisons, news reports and independent research. Twelve Americans are murdered every day by illegal aliens, according to statistics released by Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa. If those numbers are correct, it translates to 4,380 Americans murdered annually by illegal aliens. That's 21,900 since Sept. 11, 2001. Total U.S. troop deaths in Iraq as of last week were reported at 2,863. Total U.S. troop deaths in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan during the five years of the Afghan campaign are currently at 289, according to the Department of Defense. But the carnage wrought by illegal alien murderers represents only a fraction of the pool of blood spilled by American citizens as a result of an open border and un-enforced immigration laws. While King reports 12 Americans are murdered daily by illegal aliens, he says 13 are killed by drunk illegal alien drivers – for another annual death toll of 4,745. That's 23,725 since Sept. 11, 2001. While no one – in or out of government – tracks all U.S. accidents caused by illegal aliens, the statistical and anecdotal evidence suggests many of last year's 42,636 road deaths involved illegal aliens. A report by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Study found 20 percent of fatal accidents involve at least one driver who lacks a valid license. In California, another study showed that those who have never held a valid license are about five times more likely to be involved in a fatal road accident than licensed drivers. Statistically, that makes them an even greater danger on the road than drivers whose licenses have been suspended or revoked – and nearly as dangerous as drunk drivers.
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