By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

A grand jury determined an FBI agent acted in self-defense when he shot and killed a Robinson, Texas, man while raiding a home with a federal search warrant in July.

The agent, who was not identified, was cleared of wrong doing in the shooting death of Joshua Steven Mitchell after the case was presented to a grand jury in mid-December, McLennan County First Assistant District Attorney Nelson Barnes told the Waco Tribune-Herald.

“The agent clearly acted in defense of himself and the other agents who would have been in the line of fire,” Barnes said. “Mr. Mitchell had multiple weapons next to him and he reached for one, putting the agents in danger.”

Barnes said photographs showed multiple weapons near Mitchell when agents confronted him, which suggested the agents were in danger.

Mitchell was shot four times in the head and neck, as well as once in the arm.

Richmond, Va., via Fairfax County.

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

Suspected members of a white-supremacist group are accused of plotting violence at a gun rally in Richmond on Martin Luther King Jr. Day with the intent of causing what one described as “full-blown civil war,” prosecutors said in court filings.

The FBI set up a microphone and video camera at a Delaware apartment, where the suspects lived and discussed shooting “unsuspecting civilians and police officers,” derailing trains, sabotaging power lines, and poisoning water supplies, according to legal motions filed Tuesday and obtained by The Washington Post.

“We can’t let Virginia go to waste, we just can’t,” one of the men, Patrik J. Mathews, said, according to the court filings.

Prosecutors said the trio belonged to a militant hate group, “the Base,” inspired by English translation of “al-Qaeda.”

“Here’s the thing,” Matthews is accused of saying. “You want to create . . . instability while the Virginia situation is happening . . . derail some rail lines . . . shut down the highways” as a way to “kick off the economic collapse.”

Videos found on Matthews’ computer espoused “violent, anti-Semitic, and racist language,” according to prosecutors.

The other co-defendants are Brian M. Lemley Jr., and William G. Bilbrough IV, both of whom used gun parts “to make a functioning assault rifle,” according to court documents.

The trio was charged with federal firearms violations, and a court hearing is scheduled Wednesday.

Shooting captured on a live-streaming video on YouTube.

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

A former FBI agent who was serving as a voluntary clergy security guard reportedly fatally shot a gunman who opened fire at a Texas Church on Sunday.

The quick actions of the security guard were caught on a video that the West Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement was live-streaming on YouTube around 10:50 a.m.

The gunman, who had a rifle stashed under his coat, fatally shot two people before the church security guard quickly returned fire. The identity of the security guard has not yet been identified.

Another congregant, who also was serving as a voluntary security guard, returned fire as well, according to media reports.

“Two of the parishioners who were volunteers of the security force drew their weapons and took out the killer immediately, saving untold number of lives,” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said at a press conference.

Former FBI agent and security expert Greg Shaffer said the quick response by armed guards demonstrates that more houses of worship should consider armed security.

“This incident certainly drives home the critical need of having an armed response,” Shaffer told 5NBC-TV. “Had they not been there, there would have been dozens upon dozens of casualties in that church.”

Ernesto Godinez

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

A reputed gang member who shot an ATF agent in the face in Chicago last year was sentenced to nearly 17 years in prison Wednesday.

A federal jury found Ernesto Godinez guilty in June in the shooting of Kevin Crump, who was nearly killed when a bullet tore through his neck and exited between his eyes on May 4, 2018.

Godinez, 29, was sentenced to 16 years and 8 months in prison, CBS News reports.

Calling the attack “brazen, callous, and cowardly,” federal prosectors said Crump is lucky to be alive.

“The depravity of the defendant’s crime is remarkable. A sentence of 30 years’ imprisonment is the only fair answer here, both to punish this reprehensible crime and to protect the community he endangered time and time again,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing recommendation.

Police said Crump was placing a tracker on Godinez’s car when the reputed gang member ambushed the agent and opened fire. Prosecutors said Godinez, who was arrested three days later, believed he was shooting a rival gang member.

Surveillance cameras captured Godinez before and after the shooting.

Godinez’s attorney acknowledges his client was in the area the morning of the shooting, but insists Godinez was not involved in the shooting. The 12-member jury didn’t buy that.

Photo via FBI.

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

The FBI is joining the investigation into the attack that killed nine Mexican Americans last week near the U.S. border.

The deadly ambush in broad daylight left three women and six children dead after suspected drug cartels riddled the Mormon family’s SUV convoy with bullets on Nov. 4.

“The FBI will be providing assistance at the invitation of the Mexican government with the investigation into the recent attack against American citizens,” the FBI said in a statement, according to CNN. “The FBI remains committed to working alongside our international partners to help bring justice to the perpetrators of this heinous act of violence.”

Mexico’s foreign ministry invited the FBI to help.

Mexican authorities believe rival drug cartels attacked the family as part of a case of mistaken identity.

Last week, Trump offered to send U.S. troops to Mexica to “wipe” the cartels “off the face of the earth.”

By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com

Four people were arrested Monday night at a house in Dayton, Ohio where a police detective on a DEA Task Force was shot and wounded, the Dayton Daily News reports.

The task force was serving a warrant when the shooting occurred.

Authorities recovered a large amount of fentanyl, cash and weapons from the house.

#OfficerShot – Just before 7pm a DPD detective, who is part of a DEA task force, was shot while serving a drug related search warrant on Ruskin Rd. The detective is in critical condition. There are 5 ppl being interviewed
MORE..

— Dayton Police Dept. (@DaytonPolice) November 5, 2019

Photo via Border Patrol

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

A Border Patrol agent shot and killed a man who opened first on agents about a mile from the Mexican border on Monday morning, immigration officials say.

CBP officials said the agents were investigating illegal border crossings in Sunland, New Mexico, when they came across the suspect and began chasing him, Las Cruces Sun News reports.

During the foot pursuit, the suspect shot at two Border Patrol agents, officials said. No agents were injured.

The agents tried to provide medical care to the wounded suspect, who was later pronounced dead at a local hospital.

The New Mexico State Police Investigation Bureau is trying to identify the suspect and notify his family. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the suspect was a U.S. citizen.

The agent involved in the shooting works at the agency’s Santa Teresa station, which is part of Border Patrol’s El Paso Sector.

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

A group of armed men chose the wrong person to mug.

An undercover DEA agent was in a residential area of northeast Atlanta investigating drug trafficking Tuesday when the armed men approached the agent and tried to mug him.

Nearby agents responded and exchanged fire with the muggers. One suspect was shot and taken to the hospital, Chad W. Cook, associate special agent in charge of the DEA in Atlanta, said told reporters.

“Other agents on the scene attempted to intervene and shots were exchanged between the assailants and the agents,” Cook said.

Three suspects were arrested, and they are being charged in federal court. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is leading the probe.

No federal agents were injured.