Illegal Alien Gangbanger Murders Phoenix Cop; Editorials Scold "Mad Bloggers"

Or as the new phrase goes, it was an "illegal entrant" who murdered Officer Nick Erfle.

There's widespread outrage in Arizona over the senseless murder of a police ofice by an illegal gangbanger, yet some local editorial writers are tut-tutting those who dare mention the subject of illegal criminal aliens.

They don't get it.

They never will. No amount of mayhem will change that.

Slain cop-killing suspect identified as illegal entrant

PHOENIX — The man who shot and killed a Phoenix police officer before he himself later was fatally shot by authorities was an illegal entrant, a federal official said Wednesday.

Erik Jovani Martinez, 22, was in the country illegally last year when he was arrested and convicted on theft charges, said Vinnie Picard, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
He said Martinez was deported on March 3 last year, and at some point re-entered the country illegally.

Hello? Anyone ever think to, you know, maybe start enforcing the laws here?

Oh wait, that would make me a xenophobe. Oooh. Can't have that.

Mayor Phil Gordon called Martinez a "poster child" for failed federal efforts to tighten border security.

"I have a message for the federal government. Our officers are paying the price. This community is paying the price," Gordon said at a news conference. "When are you going to do your job and secure our borders?"

Good question.

Martinez was stopped by Phoenix police Officer Nick Erfle on Tuesday for jaywalking on a busy central Phoenix street. Knowing he had a felony arrest warrant for aggravated assault, police said Martinez gave them an alias.
But that plan backfired when the alias turned up a different arrest warrant for shoplifting out of Tucson. When Erfle and his partner tried to arrest Martinez, a fight ensued, Martinez pulled a gun and fatally shot Erfle, said Phoenix police Sgt. Joel Tranter.

He said Martinez then ran from the scene, jumped into a car stopped in traffic, and told the man inside to drive as he pointed a gun at him.

A patrol officer spotted the car an hour later, said Police Chief Jack Harris. More police arrived and blocked the car from all directions. An officer fatally shot Martinez when he pointed his gun at his captive's head, Tranter said. Martinez died in the car, and the captive was unharmed.

Lt. Benny Pina said the bench warrant against Martinez, issued in January, stemmed from a June 2006 assault against his girlfriend involving a shotgun. A detective working on the case was unable to locate Martinez, a member of a street gang, to arrest him.

Erfle, a 33-year-old married father of two and an eight-year veteran of the force, was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Meanwhile, the editorial writers at the Arizona Republic are wringing their hands.

If you've lost a loved one, you've probably felt that aching void that grief carves into your heart.

How you fill that void says a lot about who you are, what you believe and what kind of life you want to live.

The Valley is grieving the murder of Phoenix police Officer Nick Erfle. He was a good man who deserved better. His death was an assault on law and order and our collective sense of security.

How the community responds to those emotions will say a lot about who we are, what we believe and what kind of community we want to inhabit.

These are not petty questions.

They should not be answered by a few loud voices that appeal to fear and anger.

But that's what is happening in our community.

Self-righteous radio talkers, angry letter writers and mad bloggers claim to know exactly the right lesson to take away from this horrible event.

Yes, deport the illegal criminals, keep them out, and shut the border.

But I guess since I'm a mad blogger, my opinion doesn't count. Then there's this one:

For some people, news that cop-killer Erik Jovani Martinez was an illegal immigrant gave rise to perverse, almost joyful gloating. I'm sorry, there is no other way to put it.

They had been waiting for just such a criminal to commit a high-profile crime, and now their dream of being able to say "I told you so" had come true.

In that terrible sense, even before his relatives had been notified of his death, the service and sacrifice of Phoenix police Officer Nick Erfle had been relegated to a footnote in our nasty national argument over illegal immigration.

Being a liberal means never having to admit you're wrong.

Sorry, but there's no gloating over Nick Erfle's murder here. What there is is white-hot anger aboout the lack of enforcement of our laws. And righteous anger at the smug, arrogant attitudes of the condescending media.

Indeed, the disgrace is that it's come to this, the murder of police officers by illegals, to even begin moving the direction of the debate of illegal aliens.

Oh, sorry. Illegal entrants.

Phoenix Engineer Takes Codes to Iran

This doesn't appear to have been material that would prove useful to the Iranians, unless of course they're using an insider for sabotage or a possible terror attack.

A former engineer at the nation's largest nuclear power plant has been charged with taking computer access codes and software to Iran and using it to download details of plant control rooms and reactors, authorities said.

The FBI said there's no indication the plant employee training software had any terrorist connections.

Mohammad Alavi, who worked at the triple-reactor Palo Verde power plant west of Phoenix, was arrested April 9 at Los Angeles International Airport when he arrived on a flight from Iran, authorities said.

Alavi, 49, is a U.S. citizen and denies any wrongdoing, said his attorney, Milagros Cisneros of the Federal Defender's Office in Phoenix.

He is charged with a single count of violating a trade embargo that prohibits Americans from exporting goods and services to Iran. If convicted, he would face up to 21 months in prison.

More at Captain's Quarters.

UPDATE: Also at LGF.