Shooting in Santa Clarita

by Karl Marx Sunday, Sep. 02, 2001 at 5:55 PM
karl_marx18@hotmail.com

Shooting of an ATF agent in Santa Clarita

Yesterday an ATF agent (Alcool Tobacco and Firearms)was shot to death by a 35 year old man in Santa Clarita CA. Apparently the ATF had a warrant against James Beck the suspect for having impersonated a federal marshal. As the ATF approached Beck's house at about 8:45 AM shots were fired from the house and one agent was struck in the face and died in hospital. A standoff pursued and at about 12:45 PM the house started burning. About one hour later the house had entirely burned down. What is rather peculiar is that the police shot tear gas cannisters at the back of the house and one went through one window. Now the police says the fire was ignited by Beck himself but I would imagine that it was rather the tear gas cannister that caused the blaze. I find that all this story rather fishy and hey can you trust the ATF and all other law enforcement agencies ? Of course not and who was this guy James Beck? We didn't hear anything about him besides that he was supposed to have impersonated himself as a federal marshall. It's funny to see that the police couldn't give us any details about this person, come on he was under scrutiny by the ATF for a several time and they only thing they told the public that he was a 35 year old man. I sense something bizarre about this story and that the entire police operation was a complete catastrophe. Then they kept saying on CNN that the suspect might still be alieve as the house was practically entirely destroyed by the flames. Even worse they made a K-9 division come in to make sure he wouldn't have escaped the house. That was so absurd as there were cops surrounding the house and some 2 or 3 helicopters hovering over it! It would be interesting if someone could shed some light into this story, I sense that this episode is once again a distorted and police manipulated event. I think that Beck was more than just a supposedly impersonated federal marshall. Who knows maybe he knew a few things the authorities didn't want him to know anymore or perhaps they didn't want him to work for them anymore ? How is it that he was so heavily armed ? Maybe I'm just paranoid but with police you never know the truth and i'm sure that I'm not wrong.

Original: Shooting in Santa Clarita