Immigration and Customs Enforcement failed to deport two illegal immigrants who are now being investigated for a July 4th shooting that resulted in the death of a Massachusetts grandmother.
Illegal immigrants Wilton Lara-Calmona and Jose M. Lara-Mejia lived above Mirta Rivera, a 41-year-old grandmother, in Lawrence, Mass. The Boston Herald reports they were arrested on July 4, 2015 for murder and drug charges after a 4:26 AM 911 call summoned Lawrence Police Officer Frank Bradley to their Exchange Street apartment.
Bradley entered the grandmother’s apartment to a gruesome scene and found the victim “lying supine on the bed, pulseless, not breathing, eyes fixed front, staring straight at the ceiling,” according to his record.
He then saw a clearly marked bullet hole had ruptured the ceiling. The officer rushed upstairs where “the smell of fresh burnt gun powder was strong and evident.”
The two suspects were arrested along with 22-year-old Christopher Paganmoux. Officers searched outside and found a Sears and Roebuck .270 bolt action rifle which matched the bullet hole found in Mirta Rivera’s bed. The 3 men also had cocaine and heroin in the apartment.
Authorities have dealt with the suspects in the past, but failed to properly deport them. Lara-Meija was arrested for crossing the Mexican-American border illegally in August 2013. Despite ICE issuing a deportation order, he stayed in the country. He was considered an ICE fugitive after failing to appear before the immigration court in April 2014.
His accomplice, Lara-Calmona, was deported 3 years ago, but arrested again in November 2014. It is unclear why authorities failed to deport the man a second time.
Critics are scrutinizing ICE for their insufficient deportation policy. The Center For Immigration Studies argues the federal agency is putting legal citizens at risk.
