Alleged cop killer an illegal immigrant
Target of massive manhunt used false papers to get job
The man suspected of fatally shooting a police detective in Denver is
an illegal alien, police said yesterday.
Cops say Raul Garcia-Gomez, 19, is an illegal alien who used false
documentation to get a job at the Cherry Cricket restaurant, which is
co-owned by Mayor John Hickenlooper, the Rocky Mountain News reported.
The alien is now the subject of a massive manhunt.
Garcia-Gomez failed to show up for work Monday. The killing of
Detective Donald Young and the wounding of Detective John Bishop
occurred early Sunday morning. The men were providing private security
for a party.
According to the local report, Lee Driscoll, the mayor's business
partner, said yesterday that the company learned last month
Garcia-Gomez provided the restaurant with two forms of identification,
but the Social Security number he provided turned out to be false.
"I learned this morning (Tuesday) that he worked for the restaurant
when I got a call from the general manager ... who said the police
were questioning people," Driscoll told the paper. "He worked as a
dishwasher. He worked for us about 10 months. He looked like a stellar
employee from what I can determine from his file."
The restaurant is owned in part by Hickenlooper, but the mayor
reportedly is not involved in day-to-day operations at the Cherry
Cricket.
"Certainly, in the restaurant business everyone is like family,"
Hickenlooper is quoted as saying. "It's stunning to believe someone a
part of the family could commit such a heinous crime."
Cherry Cricket managers told police that Garcia-Gomez presented a
resident-alien card when he applied for the job, according to a police
source close to the investigation.
"You could see that this card was fake," the police source told the
Rocky Mountain News. The card was falling apart and typewritten, the
sources said.
U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., yesterday blasted the Hickenlooper
administration's handling of the case, saying federal immigration
officials should have been contacted after each of three traffic
citations issued to Garcia-Gomez in Denver because police could not
confirm his legal status.
"Denver's sanctuary policy prevents local law enforcement from
cooperating with federal officials on immigration matters, despite
federal law which explicitly prohibits such a policy," Tancredo said
in a news release.
The congressman also questioned whether or not the Cherry Cricket had
done enough to verify Garcia-Gomez's legal status when he was hired.
Sandra Rivas, Garcia-Gomez's girlfriend says he made a bedside
confession to her just hours after the shooting, Denver's CBS TV
affiliate reported. Rivas says she hoped to marry the suspect, who is
the father of her 3-week-old daughter.
Garcia-Gomez is described as a Hispanic male, 5-foot-6, 150 pounds,
with short shaved dark brown hair, brown eyes, thin mustache and a
tattoo on his left hand. He was last seen driving a white 1995
four-door Dodge Neon with temporary Colorado tags.
According to authorities, Garcia-Gomez has connections in Las Vegas
and Los Angeles, or may be heading to Mexico.
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