Murders of Raul and Brisenia Flores
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| Floreses' murders | |
|---|---|
|
Junior and Brisenia Flores Junior and Brisenia Flores | |
| Location |
36000 block, Mesquite Rd Arivaca, Arizona |
| Date |
30 May 2009 c. 5 a.m. (UTC-7) |
| Attack type |
Alleged anti- illegal immigration/ anti-narcotrafficking vigilantism |
| Weapon(s) | Firearm |
| Death(s) |
Raul "Junior" Flores, 29 and his daughter Brisenia Flores, 10 |
| Suspected belligerent(s) |
Shawna Forde Jason Eugene "Gunny" Bush Albert Robert Gaxiola |
| Defender |
Victims' wife, mother Gina Marie Gonzalez, 31 |
On 30 May 2009, Raul "Junior" Flores, 29, and his daughter, Brisenia, 10, of Arivaca, Arizona, were murdered during a home-invasion.
Gina Marie Gonzalez, 31, Junior's wife, was in the home during the attack. Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said the attackers hoped to rob the Flores-Gonzales family. Gonzalez called 911 when the assailants left the home for a few moments. While Gonzalez was on the phone, the assailants reentered the home and Gonzalez fired a handgun of her husband's, wounding one of the assailants.
An early exchange within the 911 call is as follows:Gonzalez: "They shot me and I pretended like I was dead. My daughter was crying. They shot her, too.
Operator: "Are they still there, the people who, that shot them?"
Gonzalez: "They're coming back in! They're coming back in!" (Gunfire.)[1]
Another Flores daughter, 12, had been at her grandmother's home in Sahuarita, Arizona, during the attack.[2] Gonzalez identified two men, one "white," the other "Mexican," and a white woman as her attackers.[3] Gonzales said it was the white man who had murdered her daughter and husband.
Contents
Suspects
Shawna Forde
Shawna Forde (born December 6, 1967[4]), of Buena Vista, Arizona,[5] is an anti-immigration activist who had been expelled from the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps for "unstable" behavior, and later formed a splinter group (Militiamen American Defense or M.A.D.) to further her political agenda. Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik alleged Forde to have planned and ordered the murders of the Floreses.
She is currently represented by the Law Office of Eric Larsen and the Law Office of Jill Thorpe in Tucson, AZ. [6].
Biography
Forde has asserted that she had formerly been the promoter of a grunge rock band; she has also worked as a youth counselor, as an aircraft factory worker, and as a licensed cosmetologist and esthetician. Forde ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the Everett City Council in 2007.[7][8]
Forde had several run-ins with the law before her arrest for double murder. Court records show that she served time in juvenile lock-ups for repeated convictions involving theft, burglary and prostitution. Forde married four times, in 1989, her future husband sought court protection from Forde claiming that she had physically attacked him and threatened to hurt herself with a knife. In 2007, she was charged with stealing a small container of chocolate milk from an Everett grocery store, which Forde described as a misunderstanding. While running for the Everett City Council, her son was convicted of assaulting the owner of the beauty salon at which she was employed. In January 2008, Forde accused members of a drug cartel of sexually assaulting and shooting her, however, she later suggested the alleged culprits were actually criminal associates of her son. Forde's brother alleges she fabricated the story and authorities closed the case due to insufficient evidence.[9] In 2007, she first became involved in the anti-immigrant activities and later joined the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps. However, she was asked to leave the organization in February 2007 after members described her as being "unstable". Forde later founded a splinter group, the Minutemen American Defense organization, which had 14 members at the time of the attack on the Flores family.[10][11]
Gunny Bush
Jason Eugene "Gunny" Bush (born August 11, 1974[12]), of Meadview, Arizona, is M.A.D.'s National Director of Operations. Bush was shot in the leg during the same time frame as the attack.
Bush is Forde's second in command. He has ties to the Aryan Nation and was also charged in June 2009 with the 1997 murder of Hector Lopez Partida in Wenatchee, Washington.[13] Later in 1997, Bush was imprisoned for the theft of a car and for his possession of a firearm (unlawful because Bush was already a felon, from a previous conviction).[14][15] After he was released in 2003, Bush moved to Hayden Lake, Idaho, where he lived until 2007.[16]
Albert Gaxiola
Albert Robert Gaxiola (born February 9, 1967[17]), of Arivaca, Arizona, is believed to have provided intelligence about drug activities in the area to the M.A.D.[18][19][20][21] Gaxiola had been imprisoned on marijuana charges from 1992 to 2000.[22] According to Gonzalez, Gaxiola and Flores had an on-going dispute that had originated in 2008 over marijuana belonging to Gaxiola that had been stored at Flores's residence.[23]
Alleged involvement of Militiamen American Defense
Militiamen American Defense is a militant anti-illegal immigration splinter group founded in the late 2000s by Forde after she was expelled from the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps. Various Forde family members and some of Forde's associates said that Forde began to rob presumed drug dealers in 2009, in hopes of raising funds to benefit her vigilante group. Chuck Stonex, of Alamogordo, New Mexico, a former member who quit the organization after Forde's arrest, says that M.A.D. had about 14 members and that Forde termed its covert missions "Delta One Operations." Stonex said Forde intended to fund the purchase of a 40-acre property in southern Arizona where she had intended to establish a base for her group's border operations.[24]
See also
References
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parameter "group" is allowed only.
<references />, or <references group="..." />External links
- 911 call
- "Mother shot intruder; funeral set for girl, dad," 2 June 2009 Green Valley News and Sun
- Minutemen American Defense
- "New Border Fear: Violence by Rogue Militia," by Jesse McKinley and Malia Wollan
