17 1/2 hours

17 1/2 hours was the amount of time it took for the first homicide to take place in El Paso in 2008. The details are still a bit hazy due to the fact that it just recently happened and because our small town police force and small town news force are horrible at getting information out to the general public in a timely manner. The basics of the story are this: A Hispanic man was attempting to cross from El Paso to Mexico. Something happened and the man ended up stabbing a border guard several times in plain view of everyone. After he stabbed the guard the man then fled towards El Paso but was detained by a border patrol officer minuets later and turned him over to the El Paso police department.

"Fortunately, a border patrol agent in the area was able to find him and detain him for us. So we do have someone in custody." said El Paso police officer Chris Mears

I noticed in the above quote officer Mears states that they have "someone" in custody that statement coupled with the fact the suspect ran out and the border agent had to "find him" leads me to believe that there is a possibility that they chased down the wrong guy. Until more information is made available we wont know. Why is it though that a man can kill a border guard and be able to make it out of the building? How does that happen? In this post 9/11 world we live in we are made to feel like border security is of the up most priority. Yet somehow a man was able to kill on and flee from our border crossing. Police are asking all possible witnesses to call their Crimes Against Persons department at 915-564-7010

I would like to send my condolences to the family of the man who was unjustly taken from them while preforming his duties. To be killed out in the real world due to your own stupidity is one thing but to be killed while just doing you job is something that we rarely think about. However for the men and women whose job it is to make sure we are safe, it is a fact that they must come to grips with everyday while on their commute. While we are complaining about traffic and that annoying guy who wont shut up at work these people are thinking "This could be my last day"

UPDATE: The border guard was a hired security guard. He didnt even work for the city or the federal gov he was just a normal guy trying to make a living in a border town.

Story on KFOX

Story @ El Paso Times (with info about the last murder of 2007)

Story on KDBC

Story on KVIA

I tried finding the story on KTSM but could not find any mention of it as of 8:39 am. The first murder of the year and some of our news agencies dont even have a blurb about it. El Paso sucks.