Don E. Farr sent an email circulating around, this one entitled Keep that Walther Handy! …
Living on the border, we are all familiar with criminals coming from Mexican Gangs. In this situation, three armed felons crossed the US border, and tried to rob an off duty El Paso, Texas Police Officer dressed in civilian clothes while he stood in front of a bank. The plan was for two of them to grab his backpack and toss it to an accomplice on a stolen motorcycle. However, the well prepared Police Officer shot all of them, managing to kill 2 immediately. The 3rd one was shot in both arms and bleed to death before help arrived. Gun used: a 40 cal.
FALSE – There was one picture with the email posted below [Caution: graphic].
Signal 94 provides the best examination and was able to obtain the complete set of photos.
Sig94 is a retired police officer who processed crime scenes for seven of the 24 year he served. Using 12 photos the retired officer at
Signal 94 does an excellent analysis. His breakdown is professional and demonstrates his skill with crime scenes.
An anonymous commentator (at the same site) deduced that it was photos taken in Brazil. First clue for me was the crowd standing around – they didn’t quite have the appearance of El Paso residents and the license plate on the car at right. Then there was the fact that there wasn’t any medical unit around, yet a traffic officer was there and the person taking the angle shots. By that time a medical unit would have arrived on the scene.
I could find no mention of this story at
Snopes or
Truth or Fiction. Besides the first clue being that the person did not give a source of their information, this is a 98% fact that it is a picture gotten from
Brazilian news source and made up the story for what reason I have no possible idea. As one commentator at Signal94 stated –
Bravia is a store chain in Brazil.
The closest story to this description and photos (that I found) comes from Rio de Janeiro, June 15
th 2009 in a clash with drug traffickers. The photo angle shot shows this store:
Can’t see the police badge, but doesn’t look like the El Paso badge pictured at beginning of this article. [XD Talk]
It also matches description of a report about the police officer’s conduct:
The violent methods used by the state’s police forces have been criticized by the United Nations and Amnesty International, but Rio de Janeiro Gov. Sergio Cabral backs the approach taken by the security forces in dealing with drug traffickers.
Something like this would probably have been headlined all over mainstream media, not to mention the TV news folks.
Lighthouse Journal 
I got this same email along with some anti Obama & anti Immigration commentary. thanks for your work so i could point out to my "friends" what ignorant & silly people they truly are to believe everything they see on internet/email.
I got the same email. I thought it looked more like a central america place than el paso, I visted there not long ago. But you never, so I looked it up.Thanks
You can’t declare with absolute certainty that it’s false based solely on a fake picture and no national media coverage. At best you can say it’s MOST LIKELY false. Did you investigate El Paso news services themselves? Before you declare such a finding, perhaps you should.
I’m from Missouri … show me. Do not submit a rebuttal without sources. This is a really old posting. Surprised got any comments. Trust me, I know about “national media coverage” – they only cover what they want to or feel necessary to continue their propaganda – OR – only what they want you to know. It was one of the things that made me suspicious and investigate.
Perhaps YOU should do your homework when submitting a rebuttal, also you might want to truly read the article – the store name in background is NOT in El Paso, dude. The way the media loves to spill out anti-firearm news, I am sure it would have been plastered all over every headline if it did occur in Texas. Also, look at the license plate on the truck – truly foreign.
I’ve lived in El Paso, TX since 1978 and work in law enforcement. Didn’t happen here. Those buildings are not in this city and that is not how our motorcycle patrol officers dress. They wear blue pants with a navy stripe and a navy shirt with light blue pocket flaps and epaulets and their full face helmets have quite a bit of black on them. Contrary to popular belief there is almost no cross border violence in El Paso despite the fact that Juarez, MX is one of the deadliest places on earth. As a matter of fact in 2010 at the height of the violence in Juarez, El Paso had a total of 5 murders for the year. El Paso has been continually ranked as either the first or second safest large city in the United States for the past 10 years. In fact in the new FX drama “The Bridge” the serial killer seems to be focusing on this stark contrast. Additionally based on what I’ve learned from watching that show all El Paso cops wear cowboy hats and there are clearly none visible in these pictures.
Thanks, John, for your input. It is additional information most welcome. I used to drive tractor-trailer through El Paso (and other places in Texas) and I believe your crime rate is accurate. Probably because in Texas they honor the Second Amendment, and, after all, Texas is home of the famous and historical ‘Texas Rangers’. Also, not long after blood is exposed to the air it darkens quickly. But in the photo(s) the ‘blood’-stained clothes are bright red – of course, photos could have been taken during the presumed shootout. Anyway, thanks for the input and thanks for your service in law enforcement.
It was irresponsible for this story to be reported as an American event, and actually gives the 2nd Amendment and U.S. Constitution upholders and believers a false bad rap. But the FACT is, more lives are saved by more armed police and citizens than are lost. There’s not even any valid argument to the contrary. But liberal ideology and the illogical world it springs from would have us all believe that our government (and it’s trusting followers) is in earnest when it wants to take our weapons from us for the betterment of America. Any body remember a man by the name of Adolph Hitler? ‘Nuff said. I rest my case.
Thanks for stopping by …. however ….
This story was not reported [media, at least in US]. It was an email hoax – thus “Myth Blaster” investigation. No argument about the Second Amendment or the US Constitution and huh-rah for the constitutional law enforcement personnel.
Maybe this was just a venting session?
I am trying to figure out what you wrote and the relation with this ‘Myth Blaster’ post in context of commentary, i.e., ‘bad rap’, ‘liberal ideology’, and ‘Adolph Hitler’?
I hope you read articles in this blog that defends and supports our Constitution, subjects related to your commentary. I certainly agree with what you wrote.
I hope this year, congressional election year, marks the beginning of the end of corrupted tyrants in Congress [and the White House] – no matter what political club they belong to. I hope this year is good for you and other fellow Americans.
Thanks for visiting. Your name is familiar to me, but cannot quite remember details except Facebook. Keep up the fight for rights and liberties and we see more Americans awakening from their apathetic slumber and start thinking for themselves instead of what govt and media wants us to know/think/believe.
Stay the course, Robert.