By June
2010, suspects had purchased 1,608 firearms at a cost of over
US$1 million at Phoenix-area gun shops. At that time, the
ATF was also aware of
179 of those weapons being found at crime scenes in
Mexico, and 130 in the
United States.[8] As guns traced to
Fast and Furious began turning up at violent crime scenes in Mexico, ATF agents stationed there also voiced opposition.[3]
On the evening of
December 14, 2010,
U.S. Border Patrol agent
Brian Terry and others were patrolling Peck
Canyon,
Santa Cruz County, Arizona, 11 miles from the
Mexican border. The group came across five suspected illegal immigrants. When they fired non-lethal beanbag guns, the suspects responded with their own weapons, leading to a firefight.
Terry was shot and killed; four of the suspects were arrested and two AK-pattern rifles were found nearby.[3]
The Attorney General's office was immediately notified of the shooting incident by email.[52] The rifles were traced within hours of the shooting to a
Phoenix store involved in the Fast and Furious operation, but the bullet that killed Terry was too badly damaged to be conclusively linked to either gun.[3] Acting
Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler and
Deputy Chief of Staff Monty Wilkinson were informed about the guns, but they didn't believe the information was sufficiently important to alert the
Attorney General about it or to make any further inquiry regarding the development.[1]:297
After hearing of the incident, Dodson contacted ATF headquarters, ATF's chief counsel, the ATF ethics section and the
Justice Department's
Office of the Inspector General, none of whom immediately responded.
He and other agents then contacted
Senator Chuck Grassley of
Iowa (R--IA), ranking member of the
Senate Judiciary Committee, who would become a major figure in the investigation of "gunwalking." At the same time, information began leaking to various bloggers and Web sites.[3]
On
January 25, 2011, Burke announced the first details of the case to become officially public, marking the end of
Operation Fast and Furious. At a news conference in Phoenix, he reported a 53-count indictment of 20 suspects for buying hundreds of guns intended for illegal export between
September 2009 and
December 2010.
Newell, who was at the conference, called Fast and Furious a "phenomenal case," while denying that guns had been deliberately allowed to walk into Mexico.[3][12]
Altogether, about 2,
000 firearms were bought by straw purchasers during Fast and Furious.[1]:203[3] These included
AK-47 variants,
Barrett .50 caliber sniper rifles,
.38 caliber revolvers, and FN Five-sevens.[41]
As of October 20, 2011, 389 had been recovered in the US and 276 had been recovered in Mexico. The rest remained on the streets, unaccounted for.[15] As of
February 2012, the total number of recovered firearms was 710.[1]:203 Most of the guns went to the
Sinaloa Cartel, while others made their way to
El Teo and
La Familia.[
2][32]
Although most weapons were purchased by suspects under investigation by the program, there have been reports of at least one instance of ATF agents being directly involved in the transfer of weapons. On April 13, 2010, ATF
Agent John Dodson, with assistance from
Agents Casa and Alt, directed a cooperating straw purchaser to give three guns to
Isaiah Fernandez, a suspected gun trafficker, and had taped the conversations without prosecutor approval.[47]
After being instructed by his superiors to obtain approval from prosecutors (albeit retroactively), Dodson's proposal was later rejected by his immediate superior
David Voth, although he later received permission from Voth's supervisor after submitting a written proposal for the program. On June 1, 2010, Dodson used $2,
500 of ATF funds to purchase six AK
Draco pistols from local gun dealers, which he then gave to Mr. Fernandez, who reimbursed him for the expense of the guns, plus $700 for his assistance.[47] Two days later, Agent Dodson went on a scheduled vacation without interdicting the weapons. As a result, the weapons were never recovered, no arrests were ever made, and the case was closed without charges being filed.[47]
According to the
DOJ OIG report, Agent Dodson, as the undercover posing as a straw buyer, was not expected to surveil the weapons after hand-off to Fernandez. Other ATF agents followed the weapons to a storage facility; then surveillance was terminated without interdiction. The Fernandez case was dropped from Fast and Furious after it was determined that Fernandez was not connected to
Mexican cartels and had ceased buying guns for resale.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Fast_and_Furious
- published: 21 Oct 2013
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