Shawna Forde, Anti-Immigration Vigilante, Convicted Of Killing Nine-Year-Old Girl And Her Father In Arizona

WASHINGTON -- An Arizona anti-illegal immigration activist was convicted on Monday of killing two Latinos during a 2009 raid: nine-year-old Brisenia Flores and her father, Raul Flores. The killer, Shawna Forde, is a member of the Minutemen, which patrols the southern border vigilante-style to detect illegal entry into the country.

Although the shootings were never classified as a hate crime, Latino groups argue the murders reflect growing anti-immigrant sentiment within the United States. The details are chilling: Forde and two others entered the Flores home, allegedly looking for a million-dollar drug stash that never materialized, and shot both of Brisenia Flores' parents before turning the gun on the child.

As her mother played dead, Brisenia Flores said, "Please don't shoot me," before being shot twice in the head.

A jury convicted Forde of planning and executing the raid that led to the deaths of Raul and Brisenia Flores, and of the attempted murder of Gina Gonzales, the child's mother (she survived the attack). Forde was also convicted on two counts of aggravated assault and counts of burglary, armed robbery and aggravated robbery.

The jury will announce Forde's sentence on Thursday; her alleged accomplices, Albert Robert Gaxiola and Jason Eugene Bush, still await trial.

Joaquin Guerra, campaign director for Latino activism group Presente.org, told HuffPost the conviction is "justice for a little girl whose death was ignored by the mainstream media." The case largely escaped the notice of major news outlets until a few weeks ago, when a number of national news sources covered Forde's trial.

Few politicians spoke out against the murders, which occurred in a state that later passed the hotly-contested SB1070 immigration law and is now considering a bill that would deny citizenship to children born to undocumented immigrants.

Latinos organized to bring attention to the Flores killings, including a campaign by Presente.org to shed light on the case.

"What we have shown is that Latinos are watching, and if people and parties want the Latino vote, they will have to speak out against things like this," Guerra said. "We hope her death wasn't in vain and that it serves as an example of what can happen when the types of conditions that are in Arizona are allowed to go unchecked and are legitimated as serious policy issues."

Comments

[Grace Hulbert]

09:29 PM on 02/22/2011

Shawna Ford received the death penalty today & rightfully so!

[greyK]

03:50 AM on 02/18/2011

Mississippi and Texas can breath a sign of relief. Arizona has become the new armpit of the west.

[Uncle Bill]

04:18 PM on 02/17/2011

When can we expect the pardon from the Arizona Governor, so this fine American can go to work eliminating those pesky transplant candidates who threaten Arizona's budget?

[SiriusGD]

02:34 AM on 02/17/2011

Is that Kathy Bates playing Shawna Forde?

[Edgar Molinar]

10:14 PM on 03/10/2011

Very nice!!

[tamparob]

12:57 AM on 02/17/2011

When you endorse hate, you wear the stain of the actions of your flock. Keep it up and eventually you'll end up in prison, or run into the wrong person for you to persecute and then you'll reap what you sow.

[emmeaki]

10:21 PM on 02/16/2011

"justice for a little girl whose death was ignored by the mainstream media." The case largely escaped the notice of major news outlets until a few weeks ago"

How is this possible?

[okami]

11:53 AM on 02/17/2011

she wasn't white.

while the MSM isn't as extreme as FOX, there still seems to be a bit of an antinews, antiwhite sentiment visible in some places. they've ignored many stories of interest concerning the wars, immigrants, politics and more to tout fluff stories.

it would appear that for them, as for others, the bottom line is money, ratings and sensationalism.

i despair of finding journalistic integrity, although it's probable it's still out there somewhere.

[Blodo]

10:12 PM on 02/16/2011

Any individual who is willing to degrade the foundational principles and values of her country in pursuit of imagined safety is someone who has implicitly forfeited the right to call herself a citizen of that country.

[mburgh]

01:37 PM on 02/16/2011

Put her in the same cell as Madoff.

[treeshack]

12:28 PM on 02/16/2011

"Jose Oswaldo Reyes Alfaro, 37, of 9213 Hood Road in Manassas — an illegal immigrant from El Salvador — is accused of shooting Brenda Ashcraft, 56, her son William Ashbey Ashcraft, 37, at their home at 9213 Hood Road.

Reyes is also accused of shooting and killing 48-year-old Julio Cesar Ulloa and wounding a 34-year-old Manassas woman, a 15-year-old Manassas girl and a 77-year-old Manassas woman."

Any outrage here for this recent story?

I didn't think so...

[echomac]

12:47 PM on 02/16/2011

If the assailant had ties to a vigilante organization, and selected his victims based upon race, we would exhibit similar outrage.

[treeshack]

01:12 PM on 02/16/2011

So someone who slips through our porous immigration system, someone who shouldn't be here the first place if it wasn't for bleeding heart types, goes on a killing spree, and you yawn.

Wow...

[Davilar]

12:16 PM on 02/16/2011

If it quacks like a duck, it's got to be a racist. Let's call like it is.

[INDIVIDUALTERRY]

04:52 PM on 02/16/2011

So a bank robber is just a victim of the economy ?

[greyK]

03:55 AM on 02/18/2011

some ducks are really mean, but calling them racist is a stretch don't you think? : -)'

[truly moderate]

07:52 AM on 02/16/2011

I'm against illegal immigration and amnesty. However, I believe the best way to stop illegal immigration is to stop the migration itself. Better security on the border and more, more government funding for CBP and ICE, and more agents protecting the border. Unfortunately, Mexico is exceptionally corrupt to a point that the Gov of Mexico cannot handle the issue. Too many police are in bed with the cartels and too many cartels and gun runners are making it over the border. DHS definitely has the right idea of going after criminal illegals and not going after non criminal ones. Again though, we pursue better cooperation with Mexico and give them more training and equipment. If foreign aid should go anywhere, its to Mexico in order to help them police up and take back their country from the cartels. Prevention would solve a lot of immigration issues. I am also open to immigration reform if it makes coming over here legally more attractive. I'm not referring to the dream act, but real reform. Cut some of the red tape and make coming here legally a more welcoming option :)

[Chico41]

11:55 AM on 02/16/2011

Ending illegal immigration would cause more problems than people coming over the borders illegally. We need to stop looking at these people as Mexican Taliban who move to the U.S. so they can destroy it from within. Most of these people are hardworking individuals, who want nothing more than a chance at a happy, normal life. Many of these "illegals" are even better Americans than a lot of Americans. They're willing to take any job to support their families, they have no interest in committing any crimes, and they just want want a better life for their family.

I'd bet if you put a Mexican immigrant in the shoes of a lazy American welfare case who claims they can't find work, the Mexican would be employed by the end of the day. I think the only hope of saving America is replacing all of the useless, lazy Americans with decent, hardworking Mexicans.

[treeshack]

12:18 PM on 02/16/2011

The problem with so many Mexicans coming here is that they are mostly uneducated and unskilled and only add to the poverty class. How many dishwashers, maids and gardeners do we need, after all? Our priority should be to attract educated immigrants for high tech jobs.

[carolina919]

12:43 PM on 02/16/2011

Hey Chico....what about all of the other "hard working" people from around the world who would like to come to America. What about saving some of your vitriol for the countries that are "constructively evicting" their own citizens in order to get remittances and avoid evolving their own countries. "useless, lazy Americans".... Easy to see your bias but how about the "corrupt and lazy" who think immigration laws don't apply to them?

[carolina919]

12:46 PM on 02/16/2011

Without real sanctions against employers, we're sunk. And I don't see anyone out there advocating that....no, we'd rather have ever more desperate people come here to become the next generation of Chinese manufactured junk and happy about subpar wages....This is what the American Dream has come to, "stealing America" and ignoring our laws. What arrogance and greed...from employers and illegal workers too....

[carolina919]

11:08 AM on 02/17/2011

should be "next generation of consumers for Chinese manufactured junk"

[Nelson Jacobsen]

07:24 AM on 02/16/2011

Anti-immigrant protester shows that gunning down a child begging for their life is not below them what does this say about our times?

[treeshack]

12:19 PM on 02/16/2011

There is more outrage here about these killings than there was for a Border Patrol agent being shot dead by illegal immigrants. What does that say about our times?

[echomac]

12:49 PM on 02/16/2011

It says that we are intolerant of crimes that are motivated by bigotry, thankfully.

[Uncle Bill]

04:15 PM on 02/17/2011

You wish this were true, but that doesn't make it so.

[mburgh]

01:42 PM on 02/16/2011

Metaphorically speaking how is this different from what's going one nationally with taxes?

[mickeyspumoni]

07:15 AM on 02/16/2011

Maybe someday, the press will become colorblind and will put as much value on stories with victims of color as they do with those who are white. Where was the press with this story? With everything going on In Arizona, you would think that this story would have appeared as a mainstream media headline from the moment the crime occurred, or at least when the arrest was made. Pitiful.

[only livin boy in NY]

06:27 AM on 02/16/2011

i winder was he wasnt at cpac

[BruinMike]

05:35 AM on 02/16/2011

I'm just waiting for Sarah Palin to come forward and once again become the true victim somehow.

[citizenwatch]

06:51 AM on 02/16/2011

Ticket sales to her speech to the Minutemen of Arizona have gone South since the verdict.

[damnedgentlemen]

08:55 AM on 02/16/2011

The Sarah Palin argument-

With great power comes no responsibility

[sibyl9]

08:26 PM on 02/16/2011

You keep changing the definition of the alleged rhetorical device you coined and pulled out of your keester.