Jose Pena should have just been deported

On July 10th, police shot and killed Jose Pena in Watts as he was engaged in a shootout with them. At the time he was using his toddler daughter as a human shield, and she was killed also.

This has prompted some of the usual sleaze to support the shooter's side, complain about the cops, etc. For instance, from "Video Adds to Picture of LAPD Shootout":

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) released a written statement expressing sympathy for the family and adding: "I just wonder if 11 well-trained police officers, including some from the sharp-shooting elite SWAT team could not have disabled this supposedly crazy and confused man."

And, from "Toddler Shooting Exposes Tensions in L.A.":

Dozens of protesters wave signs branding police as "baby killers." They heckle passing police cars as lines of baton-toting officers keep close watch on the restless crowd...

According to Eric Leonard on KFI, some of these protestors have ulterior motives. Specifically, one of the groups attempting to agitate those in the area is a Communist organization. Even less savory characters - if that's possible - are also trying to agitate that community.

The Mexican media in Los Angeles is also trying to inflame their compadres and supposedly lying through their teeth, trying to portray Pena as a saint.

Not only that, but Pena was an illegal alien with a long history of run-ins with the judicial system. In fact, he was deported back to El Salvador. He came back in 1996, and was subsequently arrested for DUI. All of his run-ins that Leonard mentioned occurred in the City of Los Angeles and were with the LAPD.

Recall that L.A. has a sanctuary policy - called Special Order 40 - and our new mayor recently reiterated that policy.

Note also that local black activist Najee Ali - who was recently arrested for protesting against Mexico's racist stamps in front of L.A.'s Mexican consulate - has been shown video tapes of the incident by police and has since encouraged everyone to remain calm. Apparently he realizes that there's more to this than the anti-American groups have been trying to portray.

7/20/05 UPDATE: In the first (rushed) version I didn't make it clear that he and his daughter were both killed in the shootout, since corrected.

Also, see this for more.

Comments

It sounds like the usual process by which the left exploits racial discordances to make a riot. Officials can gain power from this too, it is a display of what they can get away with, if the riot is successfully agitated and enough small businesses are burned out.

"The Mexican media in Los Angeles is also trying to inflame their compadres and supposedly lying through their teeth, trying to portray Pena as a saint"
What can explain this aside from racial hatred for the "gringo"? This people are doing too well financially for raw stupidity to be an excuse. When it comes to the reported involvement of the Revolutionary Communist Party and criminal gangs in the street protests the motivations are clearly racist, nihilist and anti-civilizational.

Thank you for giving a more complete story about this person Pena. Of course, in all of the articles that I have read about him, it says nothing about him being an illegal alien from El Salvador and kicked out of the country before. Somehow all of that information never seems to make it into the paper.