Author: Jacques Billeaud
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Authorities: Trooper was shot by driver he sought to help
PHOENIX — The man who shot and severely beat an Arizona state trooper last week was a former member of the Mexican federal police who was in the country illegally, authorities said. He had rolled his car on Interstate 10 before he inexplicably attacked the officer who had stopped to help. Leonard Pennelas-Escobar opened fire…
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Trump’s immigration stance resonates at tense rallies
TUCSON, Ariz. — Donald Trump’s campaign in Arizona is centered on his hard line against illegal immigration, a stand that supporters embraced in a series of tense rallies ahead of Tuesday’s presidential primary in the border state. “Illegal immigration is gonna stop,” Trump said Saturday night in Tucson. “It’s dangerous,” he said. “Terrible.” Both in…
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Protesters block main road to Trump rally
PHOENIX — Protesters blocked a main highway leading into the Phoenix suburb Saturday where Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump was staging a campaign rally alongside Arizona’s contentious sheriff, Joe Arpaio. The protesters — about two dozen in total — parked their cars in the middle of the road Saturday, unfurling banners reading “Dump Trump” and…
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9-year-old girl said Uzi was too much for her
PHOENIX — A 9-year-old girl who accidentally killed a shooting range instructor with an Uzi in northern Arizona had said immediately after the shooting that she felt the gun was too much for her and had hurt her shoulder, according to police reports released Tuesday. Her family members were focused on the girl because they…
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Shooting of instructor by 9-year-old girl with Uzi stirs debate over guns
PHOENIX — “All right, full auto,” the firing-range instructor tells a 9-year-old girl. She braces the Uzi submachine gun and opens fire at a black-silhouette target. But the recoil wrenches the fully automatic weapon upward, and the instructor is shot in the head and killed. The death has set off a powerful debate over youngsters…
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Sheriff says Arizona rampage suspect not cooperating
PHOENIX — A 22-year-old man described as a social outcast with wild beliefs steeped in mistrust faces a federal court hearing on charges he tried to assassinate Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in a Tucson shooting rampage that left six people dead. Public defenders are asking that the attorney who defended Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Timothy McVeigh…
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Obama puts forth border plan similar to Bush’s
PHOENIX — President Barack Obama’s plan to send as many as 1,200 National Guard troops back to the U.S.-Mexico border quelled demands that he must do more to battle illegal immigration and drug smuggling, but advocates for tougher enforcement say the troops need authority to make detentions. The new plan looks similar to the National…
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Obama to send 1,200 troops to US-Mexico border
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will send 1,200 National Guard troops to boost security along the U.S.-Mexico border, officials said Tuesday, pre-empting Republican plans to try to force votes on such a deployment. Obama will also request $500 million for border protection and law enforcement activities, according to lawmakers and administration officials. The moves…
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Arizona officials: Border violence is worsening
PHOENIX — Officials from Arizona told U.S. senators on Tuesday that drug and immigrant smuggling violence along the U.S.-Mexico border has worsened over the last year. The officials told senators at a hearing in Washington that the United States hasn’t seen the level of violence that Mexico is experiencing in its war against drug cartels.…
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6 killed in bus crash south of Phoenix
SACATON, Ariz. — Six people were ejected from a bus and killed Friday when the vehicle hit a pickup and rolled over on the interstate south of Phoenix, state police said. The six were thrown about 10 yards in the accident about 5:30 a.m. on the Gila River Indian Reservation near the community of Sacaton,…