jhow1nm2
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I know this thread is for tales of self defense. This particular is of a an unarmed, early 20's man who was recently killed about 30 miles from my home. The thing that really hit me about it, was that I travel for a living, and stop at gas stations alot. Am I ready for what happened to this young man? No, I don't sleep in my car, but read the story and ask yourself if you are.
http://www.lcsun-news.com/dona_ana_news/ci_14244405?source=rss
Details of Anthony murder revealedBy Ashley Meeks Sun-News reporterPosted:01/22/2010 12:00:00 AM MST
var requestedWidth = 0; Click photo to enlarge
- The charred remains of a 2000 Mitsubishi. Empty but for the body in its trunk, the Mitsubishi was doused with $2 of gas from a plastic jug, gas pedal weighted, lighter touched to the back seat and drive engaged to crash it into the arroyo below the ridge.
Irvin Ramirez, 15, chased it down and glanced inside.
"They're not going to find anything," he told Jorge Murillo, 18, and Javier Orozco, 16, according to an affidavit arrest warrant to be filed today in Las Cruces magistrate court.
Ramirez was wrong.
The three Anthony, N.M., teenagers, each facing a charge of first-degree murder, tampering with evidence and receiving stolen property, remain incarcerated at Doña Ana County detention facilities.
They were arrested Monday, the same day 20-year-old Adam Espinoza was laid to rest.
The San Antonio student, musician and writer had loaded his car, nicknamed "Lynda," with his small plasma TV, his Playstation 3, his Alienware laptop computer and his alto and soprano saxophones. He put his clothing in plastic bags. And he left his home the afternoon of Jan. 4, headed to Oceanside, Calif., just outside of San Diego, to move in with his older sister and her family. The former Baylor law student had plans to finish school and had already lined up a job at Macy's.
He called his mother at 9:50 p.m., his sister a half hour later, telling them both he was about 50 miles east of El Paso and that he planned to stop for the night at the first rest stop in New Mexico. At 10:42 p.m., Espinoza used his
bank card at a Fast Track gas station in Fabens, Texas.
Surveillance video showed him paying at the pump and going inside, for a soda. He was alone.The Anthony Welcome Center, just over the Texas border, didn't have a regular security patrol, something the Las Cruces District Attorney's Office said has changed in the last week. The rest stop advertises free wireless Internet, making it a popular place for travelers who want to check their e-mail or use their laptops.
Espinoza, 10 hours' driving down, 12 more to go in the morning, just wanted to get some sleep.
The three teenagers - two in the dark, near the picnic tables; one in the car, facing the exit in case they needed to make a quick getaway - had been waiting for a half hour, with the express plans to "jack" the first person they saw, Orozco told police Monday.
The bronze Mitsubishi was the first car that pulled in.
After watching it for a while, Ramirez told Orozco to check if the person inside was asleep and to whistle if he was. Orozco checked. Espinoza was asleep. He tapped on Espinoza's window to ask for a cigarette, Murillo told police.
When Espinoza rolled down the window, Ramirez walked up with the .22-caliber pistol-grip rifle.
"Brace yourself," Ramirez said. "Give me all your money."
Espinoza said he didn't have any money and if they wanted to rob him, "you're going to have to shoot me," Orozco said.
Ramirez did so - once in the head and three times in the body, court documents state.
The whole confrontation took just 20 or 30 seconds, Murillo said.
Ramirez's shirt was spattered in blood. Orozco's hands were bloody. He was carrying a BlackBerry and $10 in cash.
Murillo and Ramirez took Espinoza's car, unloading Espinoza's belongings at Orozco's house. A squeamish Orozco drove Murillo's 1993 green Toyota Camaro. They filled a plastic jug with $2 of gas at a 7/11 Fina gas station and drove to the dirt road off N.M. 404.
The three divvied up Espinoza's belongings and the weapon. The BlackBerry was given to a friend, Robert Lascano, who checked it by calling it from an Anthony, Texas, number he shared with his girlfriend and registered to her mother. The couple had visited Orozco the afternoon of Jan. 5 and asked him about what they thought were Christmas presents - a Playstation 3, a number of games, a small plasma TV, a BlackBerry phone and several plastic bags of clothes.
Orozco said they weren't presents and that he needed to pawn all the items, fast, for cash, according to court documents.
When Espinoza didn't arrive that day, his sister left California and his mother left Texas, to retrace his route. They checked every rest stop along the way before meeting up in Deming and filing a missing person report with New Mexico State Police on Jan. 6.
Lascano kept the BlackBerry for just a few days, selling it for $120 on the street because he "felt uncomfortable ... because he kept receiving text messages from Adam Espinoza's family." New Mexico State Police have since charged him with tampering with evidence and receiving stolen property.
Espinoza's body was found Jan. 10 in the trunk of his burned 2000 Mitsubishi Galant, off a dirt road south of N.M. 404, about three miles east of the rest stop. He had been shot in the head, chest and right shoulder, a Jan. 12 autopsy found, and his throat contained no soot. He had died before the car was set on fire.
The Las Cruces District Attorney's office is preparing to present the case against the three alleged gang members to a grand jury, said prosecutor James Dickens.
An adult conviction on first-degree murder would result in life in prison, without parole, while the maximum sentence for a juvenile is prison until age 21.
"We're going to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law," Dickens said, adding, "It's just shocking how random this murder is, just how absolutely frightening."
I know this thread is for tales of self defense. This particular is of a an unarmed, early 20's man who was recently killed about 30 miles from my home. The thing that really hit me about it, was that I travel for a living, and stop at gas stations alot. Am I ready for what happened to this young man? No, I don't sleep in my car, but read the story and ask yourself if you are.
http://www.lcsun-news.com/dona_ana_news/ci_14244405?source=rss
Details of Anthony murder revealedBy Ashley Meeks Sun-News reporterPosted:01/22/2010 12:00:00 AM MST
var requestedWidth = 0; Click photo to enlarge
Irvin Ramirez, 15, chased it down and glanced inside.
"They're not going to find anything," he told Jorge Murillo, 18, and Javier Orozco, 16, according to an affidavit arrest warrant to be filed today in Las Cruces magistrate court.
Ramirez was wrong.
The three Anthony, N.M., teenagers, each facing a charge of first-degree murder, tampering with evidence and receiving stolen property, remain incarcerated at Doña Ana County detention facilities.
They were arrested Monday, the same day 20-year-old Adam Espinoza was laid to rest.
The San Antonio student, musician and writer had loaded his car, nicknamed "Lynda," with his small plasma TV, his Playstation 3, his Alienware laptop computer and his alto and soprano saxophones. He put his clothing in plastic bags. And he left his home the afternoon of Jan. 4, headed to Oceanside, Calif., just outside of San Diego, to move in with his older sister and her family. The former Baylor law student had plans to finish school and had already lined up a job at Macy's.
He called his mother at 9:50 p.m., his sister a half hour later, telling them both he was about 50 miles east of El Paso and that he planned to stop for the night at the first rest stop in New Mexico. At 10:42 p.m., Espinoza used his
Surveillance video showed him paying at the pump and going inside, for a soda. He was alone.The Anthony Welcome Center, just over the Texas border, didn't have a regular security patrol, something the Las Cruces District Attorney's Office said has changed in the last week. The rest stop advertises free wireless Internet, making it a popular place for travelers who want to check their e-mail or use their laptops.
Espinoza, 10 hours' driving down, 12 more to go in the morning, just wanted to get some sleep.
The three teenagers - two in the dark, near the picnic tables; one in the car, facing the exit in case they needed to make a quick getaway - had been waiting for a half hour, with the express plans to "jack" the first person they saw, Orozco told police Monday.
The bronze Mitsubishi was the first car that pulled in.
After watching it for a while, Ramirez told Orozco to check if the person inside was asleep and to whistle if he was. Orozco checked. Espinoza was asleep. He tapped on Espinoza's window to ask for a cigarette, Murillo told police.
When Espinoza rolled down the window, Ramirez walked up with the .22-caliber pistol-grip rifle.
"Brace yourself," Ramirez said. "Give me all your money."
Espinoza said he didn't have any money and if they wanted to rob him, "you're going to have to shoot me," Orozco said.
Ramirez did so - once in the head and three times in the body, court documents state.
The whole confrontation took just 20 or 30 seconds, Murillo said.
Ramirez's shirt was spattered in blood. Orozco's hands were bloody. He was carrying a BlackBerry and $10 in cash.
Murillo and Ramirez took Espinoza's car, unloading Espinoza's belongings at Orozco's house. A squeamish Orozco drove Murillo's 1993 green Toyota Camaro. They filled a plastic jug with $2 of gas at a 7/11 Fina gas station and drove to the dirt road off N.M. 404.
The three divvied up Espinoza's belongings and the weapon. The BlackBerry was given to a friend, Robert Lascano, who checked it by calling it from an Anthony, Texas, number he shared with his girlfriend and registered to her mother. The couple had visited Orozco the afternoon of Jan. 5 and asked him about what they thought were Christmas presents - a Playstation 3, a number of games, a small plasma TV, a BlackBerry phone and several plastic bags of clothes.
Orozco said they weren't presents and that he needed to pawn all the items, fast, for cash, according to court documents.
When Espinoza didn't arrive that day, his sister left California and his mother left Texas, to retrace his route. They checked every rest stop along the way before meeting up in Deming and filing a missing person report with New Mexico State Police on Jan. 6.
Lascano kept the BlackBerry for just a few days, selling it for $120 on the street because he "felt uncomfortable ... because he kept receiving text messages from Adam Espinoza's family." New Mexico State Police have since charged him with tampering with evidence and receiving stolen property.
Espinoza's body was found Jan. 10 in the trunk of his burned 2000 Mitsubishi Galant, off a dirt road south of N.M. 404, about three miles east of the rest stop. He had been shot in the head, chest and right shoulder, a Jan. 12 autopsy found, and his throat contained no soot. He had died before the car was set on fire.
The Las Cruces District Attorney's office is preparing to present the case against the three alleged gang members to a grand jury, said prosecutor James Dickens.
An adult conviction on first-degree murder would result in life in prison, without parole, while the maximum sentence for a juvenile is prison until age 21.
"We're going to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law," Dickens said, adding, "It's just shocking how random this murder is, just how absolutely frightening."