21st Century Wire says…
Another scandal rearing its ugly head again…
It has been revealed that the death of Mexican police chief Luis Lucio Rosales Astorga, was another victim of the illegal gun running program known as Operation Fast & Furious. The gun program first made its way into the lexicon of American citizens after the death of Brian Terry, a border patrol agent that was killed in the line of duty by one of the illegally purchased guns in 2010.
The Obama administration invoked executive privilege during the House Judiciary Committee hearing with Attorney General Eric Holder last summer. Holder has been accused of withholding crucial documents that could reveal who was responsible for carrying out the illegal operation.
Police Chief killed with rifle lost in ATF gun-tracking program
Richard A. Serrano
Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON—A high-powered rifle lost in the ATF’s Fast and Furious controversy was used to kill a Mexican police chief in the state of Jalisco earlier this year, according to internal Department of Justice records, suggesting that weapons from the failed gun-tracking operation have now made it into the hands of violent drug cartels deep inside Mexico.
Luis Lucio Rosales Astorga, the police chief in the city of Hostotipaquillo, was shot to death Jan. 29 when gunmen intercepted his patrol car and opened fire. Also killed was one of his bodyguards. His wife and a second bodyguard were wounded.
Local authorities said eight suspects in their 20s and 30s were arrested after police seized them nearby with a cache of weapons — rifles, grenades, handguns, helmets, bulletproof vests, uniforms and special communications equipment. The area is a hot zone for rival drug gangs, with members of three cartels fighting over turf in the region.
A semi-automatic WASR rifle, the firearm that killed the chief, was traced back to the Lone Wolf Trading Company, a gun store in Glendale, Ariz. The notation on the Department of Justice trace records said the WASR was used in a “HOMICIDE – WILLFUL – KILL –PUB OFF –GUN” –ATF code for “Homicide, Willful Killing of a Public Official, Gun.”
Hundreds of firearms were lost in the Fast and Furious operation. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives allowed illegal purchasers to buy the firearms at the Lone Wolf store in the Phoenix suburb and other gun shops in hopes of tracing them to Mexican cartel leaders.
