TSA officer kills himself during police shoot out

[harvey007]

Source: KOB TV

Officials are investigating the events around an overnight shoot out where an estranged husband ultimately turned the gun on himself after kidnapping his pregnant wife and young son.

Police say the family of Ashley Varela-Gonzalez, 26, contacted police Tuesday evening to report their daughter’s kidnapping.

The family told police eight months pregnant Varela-Gonzalez and her 2-year-old son had been kidnapped from Pecos by her estranged husband Diego Gonzalez, 27, and gave dispatch a description of the suspect’s vehicle: a large, dark Ford F-350 with Marine Corps plates.

Read more: http://www.KOB.com/article/stories/S1900502.shtml?cat=500

[AndyTiedye]

1. These are the People We Are Supposed to Allow to Grope Us?

A TSA spokeswoman confirmed that Diego Gonzalez was a TSA behavior detection officer who had been employed at the Albuquerque Sunport for almost four years.

[Incitatus]

3. Wow. And I didn't think my confidence in the TSA could sink any lower.

[hlthe2b]

2. That makes one rape/kidnapping and one kidnapping/suicide

Hmmmm

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

4. movin' on to that big backscatter x-ray machine in the sky...

[Downwinder]

5. Sort of hope he is not manning the gate.

[The abyss]

6. Recommend +1 counter still at zero

Obviously this story is not well liked.

Thanks for posting harvey007! Good luck.

[struggle4progress]

7. ... Lawrence Lujan, a family friend said Gonzalez was a sniper with the Marine Corps and was being

treated for post traumatic stress disorder ...

Police: Kidnapping suspect killed self
Woman, child uninjured
Updated: Wednesday, 29 Dec 2010, 7:02 PM MST
http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/crime/officer-involved-shooting-turns-fatal

[avaistheone1]

12. Ah seems like his post traumatic stress disorder would DISqualify him

to be a TSA BEHAVIOR DETECTION employee.

Just doesn't make sense to me he would have this kind of role with the TSA.

[LarryNM]

15. +1000 n/t

[Tempest]

17. It doesn't make sense that you would ban him because of it

What other professions would you limit returning soldiers from?

With his military service and combat duty, behavior detection would be a good profession for him.

He actions had no bearing on his ability to do his job.

[tblue37]

8. Notice this:

Officers spotted the truck before midnight Tuesday near I-25 and Cerrillos Road in Santa Fe and attempted to pull the truck over. When Gonzalez finally stopped, police say they tried to order him out of the car for about a minute until he leaned out of the front driver window and started firing at police with a handgun, hitting a squad car several times.

Police returned fire and shortly after Varela-Gonzalez ran out of the truck and told officers the suspect inside had killed himself.

Fortunately both Varela-Gonzalez and her young son, also named Diego, were unharmed despite several bullet holes that could be seen inches above a car seat in the back of the truck.

Okay, the guy was shooting at the cops, but they fired several rounds into the truck that the kidnapped wife and their 2-year-old son were in! If at elast part of the point was to rescue the kidnapping victims, that was a sort of scary thing for the cops to do. Fortunately, she and the little boy escaped unharmed despite the bulltes that obviously came very, very close, but I wonder whether the cops might have backed off out of range for a bit rather than shooting imediately into the truck.

[saras]

9. Bummer for the wife and kid.

Damn. I thought for a minute that for once a TSA agent had faced up to what his job entails and done the right thing, but no - he has to go and kidnap his wife and son, and drag the police into it too.

[HEyHEY]

10. That's a shame for all involved.

[James48]

11. War is always a tragedy

and sometimes it just takes awhile for the effects to be seen.


There are millions of veterans now, and more coming back all the time.
Some have visible wounds.

And some wounds are invisible.

In my small town of 10,000, we've had two suicides by cop in the last year.

It will continue to get worse, and 15% unemployment + doesn't help.

[heliarc]

13. While I find airport security pretty terrible.

Nothing compares to how terrible it was before the TSA. I just remember how non-existent it was. How little interest or care or how there wasn't even a known criteria for what it's goals were. It's a wonder things went so long without a hijacking or attack.

Rest assured that the mainstream media is hell bent on doing the Republican side's bidding where dismantling the Federal government is concerned. Privatize Privatize Privatize.

[Ruperto31]

18. You LIKE the TSA?

That's unusual. Unless, perhaps, you work for them. BTW, the singular of "criteria" is "criterion," and "it's" = "it is," while "its" = "of it."

[alp227]

14. Based on the horror stories I've heard the TSA promotes heartlessness

and glorifies blind bureaucratic submission. The bad attitudes don't stop for some people.

[Tempest]

16. Another victim of Bush's wars

Gonzalez served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan as a Marine.

http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S1902339.shtml?cat=504