Los Angeles – A relative of a man taken into custody during the search for a suspect in the shooting death of a police officer is accusing Denver police of harassing the family and using intimidation tactics.
Conrad Hernandez said he and his family members didn’t know anything about the whereabouts of Raul Garcia-Gomez or the killing of Denver police Detective Donnie Young. He has met Garcia-Gomez before, he said, but he does not know him enough to say whether he believes he is responsible for Young’s death.
“I think (Denver police) were overstepping their boundaries,” Hernandez said Sunday.
Hernandez’s brother, Santiago Nicholas Hernandez, was taken from his auto-polishing business Saturday by Denver police officers and immigration agents and told he needed to answer questions about Garcia-Gomez.
Santiago Hernandez, 35, lives with Garcia-Gomez’s aunt.
He told officials he did not know where the slaying suspect was hiding, Conrad Hernandez related.
The agents then told his brother that if he did not answer their questions, he would be deported.
“He was taken on the pretense that he was only going to be questioned. When they were not satisfied with his answer, they turned him over to immigration,” Conrad Hernandez said.
A Denver police spokeswoman denied the allegations.
“Unfortunately, the reputation of those that would intentionally harbor a fugitive should speak volumes about a person’s character and ethics,” Denver police Detective Virginia Lopez said Sunday. “We know that our agents, as well as the representatives from other agencies, handled this in a very professional manner. ”
Santiago Hernandez has lived in the United States for 25 years and was in the process of getting his American citizenship, his brother said.
On suspect’s trail
May 8 – Denver police detectives Donald “Donnie” Young, 43, and John “Jack” Bishop, 35, working off-duty but in uniform at Salon Ocampo, a private events center, are ambushed from behind at 1 a.m. Police later identify Raul Garcia-Gomez, then 19, as the alleged shooter. Young’s injuries are fatal. Bishop, who was wearing a bulletproof vest, survives.
May 8 – Garcia-Gomez reports to his job as a dishwasher at the Cherry Cricket, co-owned by Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, at 8 a.m. and punches out at 4:08 p.m.
May 10 – Police identify Garcia-Gomez as the suspect in the shooting. They say they suspect has fled to Mexico or California, where he has family.
May 11 – The car owned by Garcia-Gomez is found in Southern California at his mother’s home, where his girlfriend said he would go.
May 12 – Detective Bishop speaks publicly about the incident for the first time: “I thought to myself, ‘This isn’t really happening. There’s no way. And then, I just felt a pain in my back, and I knew something was wrong. And then I saw Donnie, and that’s when I 100 percent knew something was wrong.”
May 12 – Denver Police Chief Gerry Whitman and Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton issue a joint bulletin to alert residents in both cities to a reward that is now $100,000. Investigators in Los Angeles also serve several search warrants at homes, including one where the suspect’s car was found, looking for Garcia-Gomez or clues to his whereabouts.
May 13 – More than 3,000 people gather inside and outside the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception for Young’s funeral.
May 16 – Residents in the L.A. neighborhood where Garcia-Gomez’s mother lives say Gregoria Gomez had dyed her dark hair blond and had cleared out of her house and gone to Mexico.
May 16 – Denver police say that leads in Los Angeles are dwindling even though scores of officers continue to hunt there for Garcia-Gomez.
May 30 – Jaime Arana-Del Angel, 27, is arrested in Denver on charges of accessory to murder.
Saturday – Three people – believed to be Garcia-Gomez’s father, sister and a man living with his aunt – are taken into custody in Los Angeles on immigration charges. Denver Police Chief Whitman says he will ask that all three face federal charges of aiding the crime by harboring a fugitive.
Saturday – Garcia-Gomez is arrested about 6 p.m. in Culiacán, Mexico, about 1,000 miles southeast of Los Angeles. He was held by U.S. marshals, who planned to bring him to Mexico City on Sunday to face extradition.
DENVER POST ARCHIVES
