ICE Announces Suspect in Killing of Washington Deputy is an Illegal Immigrant
Federal authorities confirmed the suspect who has been accused of shooting and killing a Washington state sheriff’s deputy and wounding a police officer earlier this week was in the U.S. illegally.
In a statement to KOMO, Immigration and Customs Enforcement said that 29-year-old Juan Manuel Flores Del Toro, entered the U.S. on a temporary agricultural worker visa in 2014.
“Juan Manuel Flores Del Toro, a citizen of Mexico, was unlawfully present in the United States,” the statement read. “He entered the U.S. on April 11, 2014, through a Laredo, Texas, Land Port of Entry on a Temporary Agricultural Worker (H-2A) visa.
“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has no record of Flores Del Toro leaving the U.S., nor extending his visa after it expired.”
Flores Del Toro allegedly got into a gun battle with law enforcement officers, including 42-year-old Kittitas County Sheriff’s Deputy Ryan Thompson and 22-year-old Kittitas Police Officer Benito Chavez on Tuesday night.
Thompson was responding to a reported incident of road rage along interstate I-90, about 100 miles east of Seattle, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page.
The suspect fled, eventually exiting the highway into the town of Kittitas.
Flores Del Toro came to a stop in the town, where he emerged from the car and engaged in a gunfight with the officers, according to Fox News.
Thompson was shot and killed, and Chavez received a gunshot wound to the leg.
Officers shot the suspect, who was pronounced dead at the Kittitas Valley Hospital.
Fox News reported, “Ellensburg Police Capt. Dan Hansberry said there were no warrants pending for his arrest, and officers do not know why he fled the attempted stop.”
KQNT captured the moment that Thompson’s body was escorted to a funeral home in Ellensburg earlier this week.
KHQLOCALNEWS: RT patrickerickson: Extremely emotional moments as the body of Kittitas Deputy Ryan Thompson is escorted by a long line of law enforcement here to a funeral home in Ellensburg. KHQLocalNews pic.twitter.com/dcGckjrTP7
— 590 KQNT (@590KQNT) March 21, 2019
Kittitas County Sheriff Gene Dana said at a news conference on Wednesday that Thompson had been on the force since 2013, having served in law enforcement in various capacities for 15 years.
The last fatal shooting of an officer from the Kittitas County Sheriff’s Office happened 60 years ago, according to Dana.
“He was a great officer and family man,” the sheriff said of Thompson. “He leaves behind a wife, Sarah, and three children, Madison, Pepper and Archer.”
.@KCSheriffOffice Deputy Ryan Thompson made the ultimate sacrifice while protecting his community — in service to others. My prayers are with his wife, children, and fellow cops. We will #NeverForget. pic.twitter.com/zInjS1sKXi
— Bill Bratton (@CommissBratton) March 20, 2019
“Our hearts and prayers go out to his family and friends.”
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