Jaime Avila was the straw purchaser of the Operation Fast and Furious weapons found at the scene of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry’s murder. Earlier this week, Avila told the judge sentencing him, “I’m sorry about the Terry family – what happened – and that if I had the power to change everything, I would.”
But nothing changes for the Terry family or for concerned congressmen and citizens who are asking for transparency.
On Friday, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa issued statement on the two-year anniversary of the Operation Fast and Furious linked shooting of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. “Two years after the tragic death of Brian Terry, Americans remember his legacy of service to his country in the Marine Corps and the Border Patrol,” said Issa.
“In the past year, we have seen real accountability for both criminals whose actions contributed to Agent Terry’s death and Justice Department officials whose conduct was faulted by the Inspector General. Former Acting Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler and Assistant Attorney General Jason Weinstein have left the Department.” According to Issa, “Several others have left or are in the process of losing their jobs.”
Issa continued, “Before final closure can be brought to this matter, the Justice Department must hand over critical documents showing what it really knew while it denied wrongdoing for months. If the Justice Department does not change course and agree to produce these documents, I am confident that the Court will rule appropriately on the lawsuit authorized by a congressional vote that included the support of twenty-one House Democrats.”
Two years ago, late in the evening of December 14, 2010, Border Patrol Agent Terry, a native of Michigan, was on patrol with three other agents in Peck Canyon, near Rio Rico, Arizona. The agents spotted a group of five suspected illegal aliens – at least two were carrying rifles.
As the agents approached, at least one of the suspects fired at them. The agents returned fire. In the midst of the gunfight, Agent Terry was struck by a bullet. Most of the suspected aliens fled the scene, though one of them had been wounded and was unable to flee, according to the House Oversight Fast and Furious report. “Though Agent Terry was fully conscious after being wounded, his bleeding could not be stopped and he died in the desert during the early morning hours of December 15 while the group waited for medical assistance to arrive.”
When help finally did arrive, investigators recovered two AK-47 variant rifles at the scene. Traces conducted later that day showed the two weapons had been bought on January 16, 2010, by Avila, age 23, who was a target of an ATF effort known as Operation Fast and Furious, which sought to dismantle an arms trafficking network through the unusual and controversial tactic known amongst ATF agents as “gun-walking.”
The House Oversight Committee found in the Fast and Furious matter:
• The Department’s leadership allowed the ATF to implement this flawed strategy, fully aware of what was taking place on the ground.
• The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona encouraged and supported every single facet of Fast and Furious.
• Justice was involved in providing support and approving various aspects of the Operation, including wiretap applications that would necessarily include painstakingly detailed descriptions of what ATF knew about the straw buyers it was monitoring”
• ATF never achieved the laudable goal of dismantling a drug cartel.
• After months and months of investigative work, Fast and Furious resulted only in indictments of 20 straw purchasers.
• Those indictments came only after the death of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.
• The indictments, filed January 19, 2011, focus mainly on what is known as “lying and buying.”
• Lying and buying involves a straw purchaser falsely filling out ATF Form 4473, which is to be completed truthfully in order to legally acquire a firearm.
• ATF knew most of the indicted straw purchasers to be straw purchasers before Fast and Furious even began.
Avila was sentenced to only 57 months in prison with three years supervised probation.
Four senior managers at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives face termination if the recommendations of a disciplinary panel are accepted. The recommendations follow an Office of the Inspector General’s Report on the botched gun running operation.
Agent Terry’s family has sued federal officials on Thursday for their roles in Fast and Furious. The suit is against six managers and investigators for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Also named is a federal prosecutor who had previously handled the case.
The Terry family has issued the following statement in response to reports that four ATF managers face dismissal:
“The news that an ATF disciplinary panel has recommended the firing of four senior managers found to be responsible for implementing the failed strategy of walking guns in the botched gun trafficking investigation known as Operation Fast and Furious is welcomed news. These officials lost sight of their primary mission which is to protect the American public and failed in their professional capacities as federal law enforcement officers. These ATF managers and the political appointees working in the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Department of Justice who knew about gun walking and failed to stop it have the blood of slain U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry on their hands in addition to an untold number of Mexican victims. The family of Brian Terry, as does every American, deserves better from their government. The Terry family will continue to pursue truth, justice and accountability for our son, brother and friend Brian Terry.”