A Nightmare on the Border

 

It was shortly before 1 a.m. on May 30, 2009, in the tiny border town of Arivaca, Ariz., a quiet night in the high desert. Gina Gonzalez was asleep when the knock on the door came. Her husband Raul "Junior" Flores roused her from her slumber, telling her, "I think the police are here." Gonzalez, 31, dressed quickly and went out into the living room to join her husband. By then, the twenty-nine-year-old Flores had let the two self-described law enforcement officials, a short blonde white woman and a tall white man dressed in camouflage, into the home. Flores asked to see their identification, but was told sharply, "There's no time for that!" A fugitive was loose, they told Flores, and the house surrounded.

But it didn't add up. The two didn't look like any law enforcement Flores had ever seen. They showed no badges. The tall man's face was painted black and the rifle in his hand sported a stock raggedly covered in duct tape. By the time Flores concluded something was seriously wrong, though, it was too late. "Don't take this personal," the man told Flores, "but this bullet has your name on it." With that, he fired a shot into Flores' chest before turning toward Gonzalez and shooting her several times in the right shoulder and right femur. Flores yelled at the intruders to stop shooting; the gunman wheeled back around and shot Flores again, killing him. Gonzalez, wounded but still conscious, lay on the ground pretending to be dead, hoping the invaders would take what they wanted and leave.

Hoping the intruders wouldn't notice Brisenia.