Ariel Rios

By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com

Congressman André Carson from Indiana hopes history repeats itself.

The Congressman has introduced a bill to name ATF headquarters at 99 New York Avenue NE in Washington as the Ariel Rios Federal Building.

ATF agent Rios, 28, was murdered by drug traffickers in Miami in 1982 while assigned to then Vice President George Bush’s South Florida Drug Task Force. He was the first ATF agent killed by hostile action.

It’s not such an unusual request considering the old ATF headquarters at 1200 Pennsylvania Ave NW was named after Rios in 1985.

In 2007, ATF moved into a more secure headquarters on New York Avenue, but Congress never named the new building after Rios.

“Naming the ATF headquarters after Ariel Rios is an important symbolic reminder of risks faced by ATF’s front line agents and their ongoing service to our country,” said Rep. Carson in a letter to colleagues asking them to co-sponsor the bill. “As a former law enforcement officer, I believe this important recognition  of Ariel Rios will serve as a tribute to every frontline law enforcement officer past, present, and future.”

According to ATF, Rios and another agent, Alex D’Atri,  made arrangements to meet with two suspects at the Hurricane Motel in Miami to make an undercover buy of large quantities of cocaine and machineguns. One of the suspects suddenly became suspicious, drew his weapon and made threats.

Rios struggled with him and was shot. He died shortly after in the hospital. The other agent, D’Atri, was shot and wounded but survived.   

Read Rep. André Carson’s full letter to Congressional colleagues.

Dear Colleague:

I am writing to ask you to cosponsor the “Ariel Rios Federal Building Act”
which  will name the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
(ATF) headquarters in honor of its first special agent killed by hostile
action. This bill will designate the federal building at 99 New York Avenue,
NE Washington D.C. as the Ariel Rios Federal Building. Ariel Rios was a
young ATF special agent murdered by drug traffickers in 1982 while assigned
to then Vice President George Bush’s South Florida Drug Task Force.

In 1985, Congress designated the ATF headquarters building at 1200
Pennsylvania Avenue as the Ariel Rios Memorial Federal Building.  The
designation honored both the personal sacrifice of Ariel Rios and served as
an enduring reminder of the dangers that front line law enforcement officers
willingly confront to keep the rest of us safe.  For nearly 30 years, the
original ATF headquarters building bore the name of Ariel Rios.

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

An FBI custodian who was killed after leaving his mother’s house in Southwest Washington D.C. was struck by a stray bullet, police said.

Gabriel Turner was headed to the store on March 24 when a confrontation between two men ended in gunfire, the Washington Post reports. 

Turner was struck in the upper back, and the 46-year-old was founded dead at 11:20 a.m.

“He was, in fact, an unintended target,” Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said at a Monday news conference. “This is one of those cases that unfortunately we talk about too often in recent months.”

“This was just a senseless tragic murder that should have never happened,” Lanier said.

The alleged shooter, Kelby Ronald Gordon, was charged with second-degree murder.

Khalil Abu-Rayyan.

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

A 21-year-old Muslim man accused of planning an attack on a Detroit church was lured into a relationship by a woman who turned out to be an undercover FBI agent, his attorney said.

“Every time I close my eyes, I see you right by me,” he texted her on Dec. 13, according to the Detroit Free Press.  “Words can’t explain my love for you.”

Soon after, the woman cut off the relationship with Khalil Abu-Rayyan. A month later, another woman began communicating with Abu-Rayyan, saying she loved him. She, too, was an undercover FBI employee, the man’s attorney, Todd Shanker, wrote in a court brief.

“The government resorted to a mind-boggling double-team against Rayyan with not one, but two young, fictitious Islamic women, who mercilessly manipulated him and pretended to be potential wives to Rayyan, a young U.S. citizen with no prior criminal history before the government’s aggressive involvement in his personal life,” Shanker wrote.

A judge denied Abu-Rayyan’s request for bond.

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

The investigation into the New York Police Department uncovered more allegations against a cop and another high-ranking official.

The official and cop are accused of having sex with a prostitute aboard a private plane in a flight paid for by Jona Rechnitz, a real-estate investor who is being investigated by the FBI for allegedly providing gifts to police in exchange for favors, NJ.com reports. 

One of the officers, Deputy Inspector James Grant, was earlier ordered to turn over his gun and badge. The other cop, Detective Michael Milici, is on modified duty.

At least 20 officers were interviewed as part of the investigation.

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

A Border Patrol agent was killed in a car accident while headed home from work in Texas, KFOX14 reports. 

Jose Daniel Barraza, who was assigned to the Big Bend sector in Marfa, Texas, rear-ended a semi with his Ford F-150 on Interstate 10.

Barraza was wearing a seatbelt and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Barraza, who was on his way home and was on duty, had been an agent with the Big Bend sector since August 2008.

The driver of the semi was injured.

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