By Fernanda Echavarri
Arizona Daily Star
PIMA COUNTY, Ariz. — The man shot and killed by SWAT officers, as well as his brother and another man, were listed as suspects in a complex drug investigation being conducted by the Sheriff’s Department, according to documents released Thursday.
That investigation was the reason heavily armed SWAT officers went to Jose Guerena’s house to serve a search warrant that ended in his fatal shooting May 5, reports show.
More than 500 pages of officers’ statements, evidence lists and witness interviews were released by the Pima County Sheriff’s Department. Also released were audiotapes from the shooting scene, radio transmissions and other communications made by law enforcement personnel during the serving of search warrants on four homes on the southwest side.
A short video showing Pima County Regional SWAT team members serving the warrant was also released. The written documents detail what sheriff’s personnel did during the incident.
Audiotapes reveal that no SWAT officers entered Guerena’s house. Law enforcement officers went into his home only after a robot was sent in and it was determined about an hour after the shooting that Guerena, a former Marine, was dead.