from "Why did the press ignore murderous rampage just outside nation's capital?," Dave Gibson, The Examiner (with minor edits by Armed with Knowledge)
On February 10, 2011, Prince William County police arrested Jose Oswaldo Reyes Alfaro, 37, after he allegedly went on a shooting and stabbing spree which left three people dead and three others wounded. When he was taken into custody, the Salvadoran national had in his possession, a machete as well as a .38 caliber revolver. The two separate attacks occurred only a few blocks apart. The list of victims follows:
According to Manassas Police Chief Doug Keen, the suspect was ordered deported in 2002, but was never detained by federal immigration authorities and never left, despite two more arrests after his deportation order.
On March 13, 2004, Alfaro was arrested and charged with misdemeanor assault and battery. He was found guilty and sentenced to 90 days in jail. However, all of the jail time was suspended and he was only ordered to pay $187 in court costs. In 2008 Alfaro was arrested for drinking in public. According to court records, he paid a $25 fine and $72 in court costs and never appeared in court for the charge.
And now here we are, with Alfaro arraigned on three counts of first-degree murder. Yet, after only a brief mention the day after the attacks occurred, this case disappeared completely from the news. Why would the American press simply ignore a case in which a man running through the streets of a Washington D.C. suburb with a machete and a gun, left innocent victims both dead and severely wounded in his path? Two theories that can be dismissed:
1. "The facts are too gruesome"
That explanation does not hold water when you consider that this is the same news media which broadcast from every angle, the image of the dead and dying in the aftermath of the earthquake that devastated Haiti last year. Of course, now, that same media complex is scouring the streets of northern Japan to bring into our living rooms, every sickening image of human suffering that nature hath wrought.
2. "The story is not important enough"
That explanation also seems ridiculous in light of the 24/7 coverage devoted to the drug-addled actions of actor Charlie Sheen and his never-ending desperate pleas for attention.
So, why has the mainstream news media decided that such a mass and brutal attack should not be examined?
Could it be the fact that the man held responsible for this horrific act is in the country illegally? Could it be that Jose Oswaldo Reyes Alfaro was ordered deported but simply never left and the federal government never followed through on that order? Could it be that though this illegal alien who had been slated for deportation was arrested twice more while he was considered an immigration fugitive, and simply released both times? Could it be the fact that this illegal alien - contrary to what both Presidents Bush and Obama have told us - was not “just here to work?” Could it be the fact that this case may demonstrate more clearly than any other to the American people why it is so important to fiercely defend our borders and actually enforce existing immigration laws? Or could it be, as Virginia state Delegate Jackson Miller (R-Manassas) described it:
On February 10, 2011, Prince William County police arrested Jose Oswaldo Reyes Alfaro, 37, after he allegedly went on a shooting and stabbing spree which left three people dead and three others wounded. When he was taken into custody, the Salvadoran national had in his possession, a machete as well as a .38 caliber revolver. The two separate attacks occurred only a few blocks apart. The list of victims follows:- Brenda Ashcraft, 56, pronounced dead at the scene from gunshot wounds
- William Ashbey Ashcroft, 37, died in route to the hospital
- 34-year-old woman, gunshot wound, survived
- 15-year-old girl, gunshot wound, survived
- Julio Cesar Ulloa, 48, pronounced dead at the scene from gunshot wound
- 77-year-old unidentified woman, suffered stab wounds, severe lacerations to the head, survived
According to Manassas Police Chief Doug Keen, the suspect was ordered deported in 2002, but was never detained by federal immigration authorities and never left, despite two more arrests after his deportation order.
On March 13, 2004, Alfaro was arrested and charged with misdemeanor assault and battery. He was found guilty and sentenced to 90 days in jail. However, all of the jail time was suspended and he was only ordered to pay $187 in court costs. In 2008 Alfaro was arrested for drinking in public. According to court records, he paid a $25 fine and $72 in court costs and never appeared in court for the charge.
And now here we are, with Alfaro arraigned on three counts of first-degree murder. Yet, after only a brief mention the day after the attacks occurred, this case disappeared completely from the news. Why would the American press simply ignore a case in which a man running through the streets of a Washington D.C. suburb with a machete and a gun, left innocent victims both dead and severely wounded in his path? Two theories that can be dismissed:
1. "The facts are too gruesome"
That explanation does not hold water when you consider that this is the same news media which broadcast from every angle, the image of the dead and dying in the aftermath of the earthquake that devastated Haiti last year. Of course, now, that same media complex is scouring the streets of northern Japan to bring into our living rooms, every sickening image of human suffering that nature hath wrought.
2. "The story is not important enough"
That explanation also seems ridiculous in light of the 24/7 coverage devoted to the drug-addled actions of actor Charlie Sheen and his never-ending desperate pleas for attention.
So, why has the mainstream news media decided that such a mass and brutal attack should not be examined?
Could it be the fact that the man held responsible for this horrific act is in the country illegally? Could it be that Jose Oswaldo Reyes Alfaro was ordered deported but simply never left and the federal government never followed through on that order? Could it be that though this illegal alien who had been slated for deportation was arrested twice more while he was considered an immigration fugitive, and simply released both times? Could it be the fact that this illegal alien - contrary to what both Presidents Bush and Obama have told us - was not “just here to work?” Could it be the fact that this case may demonstrate more clearly than any other to the American people why it is so important to fiercely defend our borders and actually enforce existing immigration laws? Or could it be, as Virginia state Delegate Jackson Miller (R-Manassas) described it:
"It's just another abject failure of the federal government. Now we have three innocent victims in my city, about a mile from my house there’s a murderous rampage. I am furious [...] Yet it happens over and over and over again, and then we have to hear all of these apologetic excuses as to why we shouldn’t be addressing criminal illegal aliens on the state or local level. It’s just disgusting."Or perhaps all of the above. (source)
