Counterpoint on the David Aguilar Case

In the interest of fairness, please read the defense of the unnamed undercover DEA agent put forth by Mr. Mike Wilde, who is a retired Law Enforcement Officer (LEO). The following is an e-mail exchange between Mr. Wilde and myself that occurred as a result of the reprinting on KeepAndBearArms.com of my compilation of government abuses. My comments are in Red

Date: Wed, 03 Jan 2001
From: Michael Wilde (wilde1@nightmail.com)
Subject: Factual errors in Tucson shooting.
To: Ron@keepandbeararms.com

Ron,

You really should research your stories before publishing. Not just reporting what others have told you. No flame, just a suggestion.

The DEA agent you malign had a gun pointed at his head by this guy and reacted appropriately.

Mr Aguilar was at the driver side door and pointed the gun at the Agents head. The Agent put his vehicle in reverse and spun away so he could fire through the windshield, a technique taught by the Feds and other agencies.

This can all be confirmed by the court files in the civil case and the investigation files by the Sheriffs dept and the feds that investigated. There was also a spent 22cal casing in the Mr Aguilar's gun, they did not determine if he had fired, but his actions were inappropriate and cost him his life.

I like KABA.com, but unsubstantiated reporting like yours demeans the work of everyone who is trying to preserve the rights of us all. I am CC'ing a copy to the webmaster who should also be concerned with factual reporting.

Mike Wilde, Retired Leo

Date: Wed, 03 Jan 2001
From: Ron@keepandbeararms.com
Subject: Factual errors in Tucson shooting.
To: Michael Wilde (wilde1@nightmail.com)

Mike,

Unfortunately, I like most others am dependent upon the mainstream news media for my news. While I am quite aware that it is oftentimes biased, I know of no alternative because I do not have the resources to personally investigate every news story I read. I certainly do want to report the facts correctly however, and will be happy to include your statement in the report of the incident, if I may have your permission to do so.

I appreciate the restraint and evenhandedness of your email. As far as I can tell, the only difference between your report and what was in Vin Suprynowicz' report, is that instead of "When the man in the car saw Aguilar returning, he drew his own gun...and fired" it should be "When the man in the car saw Aguilar returning with a pistol pointed at his head, he drew his own gun...and fired". It's curious why they didn't determine whether or not Mr. Aguilar's gun had been fired. Isn't that pretty easy to do?

I am also puzzled as to why, when the DEA agent "put his vehicle in reverse and spun away", he didn't just keep going. Why did he find it necessary to shoot Mr. Aguilar? Along with your statement of the incident, I would also like to include your response to the following question if I may:

"What is your advice to a normal citizen who is in legal possession of a firearm (CCW permit and all), if he is approached by an individual with a pistol pointed at him?"

Thank you for your comments,

-- Ron Dotson

Date: Thu, 04 Jan 2001
From: Michael Wilde (wilde1@nightmail.com)
Subject: Re: Factual errors in Tucson shooting.
To: Ron@keepandbeararms.com

Ron,

You can print what I sent if you like. :)

I too do not understand why they never said clearly if he had fired his gun or not, seems rather odd to me. It should be very easy to figure out with our local ballistics labs. Maybe they did and I just missed it. However, it does not change the justification to use deadly force on the agents part. The weapon would still be percieved as a threat by anyone.

Now I cannot get into the mind of the agent, but I think his training overcame his conscious thought, as it usually does. He could have driven away in reverse very easily, but he was trained to do the hard j-turn move and shoot through the windshield. When TSHTF you do as you are trained and that is what he did.

Any citizen, leo or otherwise would have been justified in AZ to fire in self-defense, but it would have been easier to just drive away. Many encounters are easily diffused simply by leaving, but not all.

Mr Aguilar took the law into his own hands and paid for it with his life, he showed very poor judgement and his family and friends and the family and friends of the agent are now suffering for it.

The problem with lethal force encounters is that it is very easy for us, myself included, to critique decisions made in a split second and lay blame on somebody improperly. I have been guilty of this on several occasions.

Now when we look at Waco, Ruby Ridge, Philedelphia bombing those are horrific events that the govt got away with. They make me sick. The swat raids at the wrong house are another example of govt gone bad.

I know I get rambling and for that I apologize. Keep up the good work.

Sincerely,

Mike Wilde, retired leo