There are new deaths connected to the Obama administrationâs Fast and Furious gun-walking program. 3 Mexican police officers were killed with a grenade that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives allowed to âwalkâ over the Mexican border.
from CBS:
CBS News has learned of a shocking link between a deadly drug cartel shootout with Mexican police last week and a controversial case in the U.S. The link is one of the grenades used in the violent fight, which killed three policemen and four cartel members and was captured on video by residents in the area.
According to a Justice Department âSignificant Incident Reportâ filed Tuesday and obtained by CBS News, evidence connects one of the grenades to Jean Baptiste Kingery, an alleged firearms trafficker U.S. officials allowed to operate for years without arresting despite significant evidence that he was moving massive amounts of grenade parts and ammunition to Mexicoâs ruthless drug cartels.
The gun battle took place last week in Guadalajara. Authorities say five members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel used at least nine firearms and ten hand grenades against Mexican police. If one of the grenades was supplied with the help of Kingery, as believed, it adds to the toll of lives taken with weapons trafficked by suspects U.S. officials watched but did not stop.
The Kingery case was overseen by the same Arizona U.S. Attorney and ATF office that let suspects traffic thousands of weapons to Mexican drug cartels in the operation dubbed Fast and Furious. The strategy was to try to get to the cartel kingpins, but it was halted after CBS News reported that Fast and Furious weapons were used by cartel thugs in the murder of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry on December 15, 2010. Weapons trafficked by other ATF suspects under surveillance were used two months later in the cartel murder of Immigration and Customs Agent Jaime Zapata in Mexico on February 15, 2011.
On Wednesday, ATF told CBS News it has âno informationâ about the Kingery connection to last weekâs gun battle in Mexico.
As CBS News previously reported, documents show ATF began watching Kingery in â2004 related to AK47 purchasesâ he was believed to be trafficking to Mexico.
In 2009, ATF also learned Kingery was dealing in grenades; weapons of choice for Mexicoâs killer cartels. Documents show they developed a secret plan to let him smuggle parts to Mexico in early 2010 and follow him to his factory. Some ATF agents vehemently objected, worried that Kingery would disappear once he crossed the border into Mexico. Thatâs exactly what happened.
There is blood on the hands of high-ranking Obama administration officials. The death toll from Fast and Furious is now estimated to be over 300 people, including two US Federal Agents.
The Obama administration continues to block Congressional investigations into the program while calling it a âphony scandal.â