Please Note: Ricardo Alfonso Cerna has been determined to be an immigrant from Guatemala and the Mexican Consulate has left the case. See "Gun given to suspect by San Bernardino Sheriff's to commit suicide in interrogation room"
<>.<>.<>.<>.<>.<>.<>.<>.<>.<>.<>.<>.<>.<> The San Bernardino Sheriff's Department executed Ricardo Alfonso Cerna, age 47, while he was being interrogated inside the Sheriff's station for the shooting injury of one of their officers on Friday. Cerna had been stopped on a routine traffic violation by Deputy Michael Parham when Cerna came out of his car and shot the officer while he was still in his squad car and then ran. Deputy Parham was shot in the abdomen and is in stable condition at Loma Linda University Medical Center.
<> LA VOZ DE AZTLAN NEWS BULLETIN <>
<>.<>.<> Los Angeles, Alta California <>.<>.<>December 20, 2003
San Bernardino, California Cops Execute Mexican Man in Custody
After an intensive search of the area where the shooting took place, San Bernardino police found and arrested Cerna and took him to the San Bernardino Sheriff's Station. According to a Sheriff's spokesperson, Ricardo Alfonso Cerna, took out a gun from his left pocket while in the interrogation room and then he shot himself in the head. What's wrong with this picture?
The largely Mexican and Mexican-American community in San Bernardino are not buying the version put forth by the S.B. Sheriffs. Community activists are saying that the San Bernardino County Sheriff's are increasingly acting as police, judges and executioners when dealing with Mexicans. Ricardo Alfonso Cerna did not speak English but only Spanish, according to some witnesses.
The Assistant District Attorney, Michael Risley, said, "There are no grounds for us to investigate what happened inside the department as a criminal investigation." He added, "I don't see any criminal laws broken."
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