Iraq war veteran, Jose Guerena Ortiz, had been turned down for a position with the U.S. Border Patrol due to problems with his vision. Instead, he took a mining job. He was 27.
On May 5, after a 12-hour night shift, Ortiz was awakened by his wife Vanessa who told him someone was firing a gun outside. She had seen a dark suited man pass by the window, not knowing it was the Pima County Sheriff's Department SWAT team executing a search warrant.
Ortiz was only trying to protect his family when he picked up an AR-15 assault rifle, his wife said. The officers saw it differently.
According to the Associated Press, the officers - four of whom carried .40-caliber handguns while another had an AR-15 - fired 71 rounds, striking Ortiz 22 times. It all happened within 8 seconds of them breaking down the front door.
The Pima County Sheriff's Department said its SWAT team was at the home because Guerena was suspected of being involved in a drug-trafficking organization and that the shooting happened because he arrived at the door brandishing a gun. The county prosecutor's office says the shooting was justified.
But six months after the May 5 police gunfire shattered a peaceful morning and a family's life, investigators have made no arrests in the case that led to the raid. Outraged friends, co-workers and fellow Marines have called the shooting an injustice and demanded further investigation. A family lawyer has filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the sheriff's office. And amid the outcry in online forums and social media outlets, the sheriff's 54-second video, which found its way to YouTube, has drawn more than 275,000 views. Read 'SWAT team's shooting of Marine causes outrage' by the Associated Press.