PTSD: The trauma experienced by migrants is typically two-fold

Border crisis complicated by migrant PTSD: report

NY Post
By Jesse O’Neill
January 1, 2023

A Border Protection officer leading zip-tied migrants after they were taken into custody on January 1, 2023.James Keivom

The trauma experienced by migrants is typically two-fold: they are suffering from the memories they left behind while also carrying around mental anguish from their journeys, Byimana explained.

As a surge of asylum seekers overwhelm southern border cities, “most” of the migrants are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder from their harrowing trip into the US.

The migrants’ arduous ordeals are often marred with violence, kidnappings and sexual assaults, according to Dr. Brian Elmore, who volunteers for weekend shifts at a shelter in El Paso, Texas.

“Most of our patients have symptoms of PTSD. I want to initiate a screening for every patient,” said Elmore, an emergency medicine doctor at Clinica Hope.

In many cases, the grueling hardships had been exacerbated by the pandemic emergency measure Title 42, which has been used to expel more than 2.5 million migrants from the US since March 2020, according to the Saturday report by the Associated Press.
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El Paso Veterans Court Gets Patriotism Award

El Paso Veterans Court receives state recognition for treatment services
KFOX 14 News
Crystal Price
Fri, Oct 02 2015

In addition to the veteran cases, they also work with other organizations to hold events such as the annual Stand Down. Through this event, they go out in the community and offer showers, meals, and clothes for homeless veterans.

EL PASO, Texas -- The El Paso Veterans Treatment Court program has received state recognition for the services they provide in the community.

The Texas Veterans Commission recently presented the El Paso specialty court with the Patriotism Award.

The court program offers treatment to veterans who get in trouble with the law, opposed to sending them straight to jail.

Through grants from the Office of the Governor, the program offers treatment to veterans who may suffer from substance abuse or mental health illnesses.

Angie Juarez Barill, judge for the 346th District Court, started the program three years ago. "We saw so many of our men and women veterans and so many active military coming through our court system," Barill said. "So we knew we had to do something about it."

Through this 18-month program, veterans are able to receive counseling and the court assists scheduling VA appointments.

Since the program started the El Paso Veteran's Court has had 50 veterans graduate from the program.

However, Barill said they have had more than 250 veterans who have applied. Barill said these individuals were turned away because they could not prove they had a combat-related illness.
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Video of Fort Bliss Soldier's Death in El Paso Jail Released

Video of Texas soldier shows moments before his death while in police custody 
OKCFOX.com
By: Austin Prickett, Sr. Digital Content Manager
Updated: May 15, 2015

(KFOX) – An active-duty Fort Bliss soldier self-reported for a two day DWI sentence at the El Paso County Jail in 2012 but died before he saw the light of day or his family again.

In July 2012, KFOX14 anchor Erika Castillo reported on the story of the mysterious circumstances surrounded the death of Sgt. James Brown while he was in jail.

KFOX14 fought all the way to the Texas attorney general to obtain the video to learn what happened to Brown before dying.

The graphic video obtained shows the moments before the death of Brown. Brown served two tours of combat duty in Iraq. 

The decorated 26-year-old was on active duty at Fort bliss in July 2012, when he left his family for the weekend to self-report for a two day DWI sentence at the El Paso County Jail.

When he checked in, jail records show that Brown reported in writing to the jail that he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress. Brown's mother said when her son checked into the jail, he contacted her.

"He said they're trying to make me stay seven days instead of two days, so i just want to pay the court fine and get out of here," said Dinette Robinson-Scott. Brown asked his mom to send the money to pay the fine in lieu of the jail time, which she did by the following morning. But by that time, something had gone terribly wrong.

The video shows at some point, Brown appeared to have an episode in his cell that caused him to bleed. It's not clear from where. When he refused to answer or speak to the jail guard, a team of guards in riot gear were brought in to storm his cell. From beginning to the end of the recording, Brown stated he could not breathe. read more here

El Paso VA "We Make Our Own Diagnoses" on PTSD

Fort Bliss Shooting Highlights Broader VA Dysfunction
KRWG.com
By SIMON THOMPSON
January 21, 2015

"I want to tell you something we gave up our life for our country maybe we weren’t buried but a part of us got buried, we expect you to honor what we have done don’t treat us like we are here for a handout these are things that we were promised when we took the oath and we are warriors” Nick D'Amico

El Paso Veteran Nick D' Amico passed away in 2013

while waiting for medical care from the El Paso VA

Credit Simon Thompson

Every day 22 U.S. veterans commit suicide. The recent murder-suicide that took two lives at Fort Bliss is raising questions about the VA’s ability to manage ongoing mental health issues facing returning soldiers Simon Thompson reports.

Fort Bliss went on lockdown as authorities moved to contain an active shooter. The gunman was an Iraqi veteran and former El Paso VA employee Jerry Serrato. He shot and killed VA psychiatrist Doctor Timothy Fjordbak before turning the gun on himself and taking his own life. The FBI reported that Serrato had threatened Fjordbak in 2013 when both men were working at the El Paso clinic.

But there may have been another trigger. In a Washington post report- A former clinic employee said that Serrato was frustrated that the clinic had found his claim of post-traumatic stress disorder unwarranted and wasn’t going to give him the medical treatment he was expecting.

Lillian D’ Amico says it wouldn’t be the first time the El Paso VA has denied a veteran’s Post Traumatic Stress Disorder she says the El Paso VA rejected treatment for her son Nick…who was diagnosed with PTSD years earlier at the VA in Phoenix, Arizona. In fact, she says they even rejected Nick’s PTSD diagnosis.

“The first time he brought his records with him and they said ‘We are not interested in theses , we make our own diagnoses’. So Nick had been in Albuquerque they looked at the records. they looked at the records, come here and they don’t want to look at the records They don’t want to treat the mental ill because they don’t have the doctors and they don’t have the money, there is too many of them” she says
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Fort Bliss Shooting Highlights Broader VA Dysfunction
January 21, 2015

Ex-Army Psychiatrist Says Veterans Killed Doctors "All Too Common"

This is the most baseless claim thing in this whole appalling article!

“Although we do not know all the details, what we know of the case suggests anger at the VA for denial of benefits,” says Elspeth Ritchie, who served as the Army’s top psychiatrist before retiring in 2010. “Unfortunately, the scenario of angry patients killing their doctors is way too common, both in and out of the military.”

Yes, she said that! Imagine this person is not some average imbecile saying something that has absolutely no connection to fact, but a highly educated imbecile forever tied to stupid statements just like this one along with being connected to the worst responses camouflaged as suicide prevention and "resilience" training. They were just too stupid to figure out when suicides went up THEY BLEW IT! Suicides started going up in 2008 and kept going up even as the number of enlisted went down.

Ok, sorry but this woman has a very long history of getting plenty of attention for just saying whatever she wants with nothing to back it up with. Imagine what this kind of statement did to veterans still trying to get over stupid idiots fueling the stigma of PTSD instead of encouraging them to get the help they need and wouldn't need had they NOT RISKED THEIR LIVES FOR OTHERS!

Start with what really is all too common and that is veterans surviving combat but end up committing suicide when they come back home. That happens a hell of a lot more often than a doctor being killed by a veteran! Next would be even more common and that is veterans attempting to commit suicide.

In this report from ABC News there is a list of doctors killed by patients and it is a short one. It is also one with only civilian patients. Patient Kills Psychiatrist in Murder-Suicide

There have been military reports as well. In Iraq there was a psychiatrist killed along with 4 others at Camp Liberty.

Maj. Matthew P. Houseal, a 54-year-old psychiatrist and father of seven in the Army Reserve, was there to counsel, having requested an Iraq deployment to support soldiers struggling with the heartache and hardship of war.

Sgt. John Russell was later convicted. There was also another report about an Army psychiatrist tied to the murder and wounding of a lot more. In this case, the shooter was the psychiatrist. Remember Major Nidal Malik Hasan and what he did at Fort Hood?

Veterans killing doctors over claims is not all too common but suffering because they served is. Would have been a better article if someone thought of actually reporting some facts here. Then we should also think about why on earth Thompson thought he needed to use "killed in action" instead of anything else, like maybe in the line of duty or on the job?

Killed in Action, Far From the Battlefield
Time
Mark Thompson
Iraq Archive 2007

Iraq, 2007: Both a VA psychologist and the veteran who allegedly killed him served in Iraq that year.

Benjamin Lowy / Getty Images

VA psychologist gunned down by Iraq war vet

KIA means “killed in action,” and might not seem to apply to the death of Timothy Fjordbak, 63, allegedly at the hand of Jerry Serrato, 48, on the fourth floor of the El Paso clinic at Fort Bliss.

But, unfortunately, it does.

Serrato, 48, had served in Iraq for several months in 2007. He was discharged from the Army in 2009 for undisclosed physical reasons. He worked for a short time at the clinic in 2013, where Fjordbak, 63, was the chief psychologist.

A former employee at the clinic has told the Washington Post that Serrato was upset that the clinic had found his claim of post-traumatic stress disorder unwarranted.

“I know what you did,” Lindquist quoted Serrato telling Fjordbak, “and I will take care of it.” Fjordbak reported what he perceived to be a threat to local police.
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FBI: Doctor Killed at Fort Bliss El Paso VA Named

FBI says shooter at Texas VA clinic was ex-employee 
Associated Press
By RUSSELL CONTRERAS and SETH ROBBINS
January 7, 2015

EL PASO, TEXAS — An Army veteran who fatally shot a psychologist at a West Texas veterans' hospital before killing himself was a former clerk at the clinic and had threatened the doctor in 2013, the FBI said Wednesday. 

The FBI identified the gunman in Tuesday's shooting as Jerry Serrato, a 48-year-old who was medically discharged from the Army in 2009 after serving in Iraq two years earlier.

Douglas Lindquist, who heads the FBI's El Paso office, said Serrato used a .380-caliber handgun to shoot Dr. Timothy Fjordbak, 63, and himself at the El Paso Veterans Affairs Health Care System at Fort Bliss.

Fjordbak was a psychologist who left private practice after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks because he wanted to work with military veterans, officials said. 

Serrato had served in the Ohio Army National Guard from 1985 to 1993, then enlisted in the Army in July 2006, military records show. He served in Iraq for five months in 2007.
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VA Secretary Bob McDonald visits El Paso clinic after fatal shooting of doctor
Washington Post
By Emily Wax-Thibodeaux
January 8, 2015

With a promise to ramp up security, Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald visited the El Paso VA clinic Thursday after an agency psychologist was fatally shot by an Iraq war veteran and former employee of the clinic.

“The entire Veterans Affairs family is here to show their empathy for the employees here and the veterans here that we care so much about,” McDonald said. “I’m here to talk to employees today and to tell that that whatever support they need they will get.”

read more here

A security assessment is underway at the El Paso clinic following the shooting

Texas VA shooter named as a 48-year-old former clinic clerk and Iraq veteran who threatened his victim before at nearby supermarket
Daily Mail
By OLIVER O'CONNELL FOR MAILONLINE
January 7, 2015

A security assessment is underway at the clinic following the shooting, which comes four months after it was found that the base was not compliant with Department of Defense directives

Jerry Serrato, 48, shot Dr Timothy Fjordbak, 63, before turning the gun on himself at the Fort Bliss veterans' clinic near El Paso, Texas
Serrato had previously worked as a clerk at the clinic, but authorities believe he did not have a working relationship with the victim
The shooting triggered a 'code white' active shooter alert as hundreds of patients and staff sought shelter
Serrato verbally threatened Fjordbak at an El Paso supermarket in 2013
He reportedly said to him: 'I know what you did and I will take care of it'
Fort Bliss had yet to implement new Department of Defense security measures, despite an announcement four months ago that it would
The clinic is also under fire for having the longest wait times for veterans to see a mental health professional, and longer to see a physician

An Army veteran who fatally shot a psychologist at a West Texas veterans' hospital before killing himself was a former clerk at the clinic.

He had publicly threatened the doctor in 2013, the FBI said on Wednesday.

The gunman in Tuesday's shooting, which caused hundreds of patients and staff to seek shelter, was Jerry Serrato, 48, who was medically discharged from the Army in 2009 after serving in Iraq two years earlier. Serrato used a .380-caliber handgun to shoot Dr Timothy Fjordbak, 63, and himself at the El Paso Veterans Affairs Health Care System at Fort Bliss, Texas.
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Shooter at El Paso VA Dead, Doctor Shot

Shooter at El Paso VA Dead, Doctor Shot

UPDATE
Shooter kills doctor at El Paso VA clinic, then self
El Paso Times
By Daniel Borunda
POSTED: 01/06/2015

FORT BLISS
The FBI is trying to determine what caused a gunman to kill a doctor and then himself Tuesday afternoon at an El Paso veterans clinic.

The shooting led to a massive law enforcement response and a precautionary security lockdown that had people in closed, darkened rooms for hours inside the El Paso VA Health Care System building next to William Beaumont Army Medical Center on Fort Bliss.

"The alleged shooter is dead and we have one casualty and that casualty is deceased. All other VA patients and staff are safe," Maj. Gen. Stephen M. Twitty, commanding general of Fort Bliss and the 1st Armored Division, said at a news conference Tuesday night.

Hours later, white buses arrived to shelter those waiting. The American Red Cross also arrived at the scene.

Douglas Lindquist, the special agent in charge of the El Paso division of the FBI, said agents were interviewing witnesses and FBI crime-scene investigators were working at the clinic. The FBI is leading the investigation because the crime occurred on federal property.

"I also want to stress that we have hundreds of potential witnesses," Lindquist said at the news conference. "We are processing them right now. Those people were here seeking medical assistance. We understand what this situation represents to them. We are trying to expeditiously get through those hundreds of witnesses to find out details about this incident."
read more here

Officials: Doctor at El Paso VA Health Care System shot, shooter kills self
Times staff report
POSTED: 01/06/2015
Update 4:40 p.m.:

A doctor at the El Paso VA Health Care System was shot today and the shooter apparently shot and killed himself, officials said a preliminary investigation shows.

The office of U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke, D-El Paso, said the information is preliminary and the investigation is continuing.

The shooting was reported about 4 p.m.
go here for more and update

This is from CNN

No one else has the right report other than the Times

Wounded soldiers paying debt to Pentagon in accounting errors!

You have the right to remain oblivious if that gets you through your day with your own troubles. Lord knows I have my own but there is no way in hell I will return to the days when these men and women were not worth the time to care. How about you? How can we ever look any of them in the eye and say we support them when we allow all of this to go on?

Special Report: How the Pentagon's payroll quagmire traps America's soldiers
By Scot J. Paltrow and Kelly Carr
EL PASO, Texas
Tue Jul 9, 2013

(Reuters) - As Christmas 2011 approached, U.S. Army medic Shawn Aiken was once again locked in desperate battle with a formidable foe. Not insurgents in Iraq, or Taliban fighters in Afghanistan - enemies he had already encountered with distinguished bravery.

This time, he was up against the U.S. Defense Department.

The mistakes in soldiers' pay may seem small - $1,000 here, a few hundred there. But for an Army private first class making a base annual salary of about $23,000, or a wounded veteran on disability, they can be devastating. Former soldiers have had their civilian wages and their Veterans Administration benefits garnished. They have been pursued by private collection agencies and forced to pay tax penalties. In other cases, too, deserters have continued to be paid for months, and sometimes years, after disappearing.

Aiken, then 30 years old, was in his second month of physical and psychological reconstruction at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, after two tours of combat duty had left him shattered. His war-related afflictions included traumatic brain injury, severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), abnormal eye movements due to nerve damage, chronic pain, and a hip injury.

But the problem that loomed largest that holiday season was different. Aiken had no money. The Defense Department was withholding big chunks of his pay. It had started that October, when he received $2,337.56, instead of his normal monthly take-home pay of about $3,300. He quickly raised the issue with staff. It only got worse. For all of December, his pay came to $117.99.

All Aiken knew was that the Defense Department was taking back money it claimed he owed. Beyond that, "they couldn't even tell me what the debts were from," he says.
read more here
linked from Huffington Post

Family members charged with murder of Maj. Chester Garrett

Mother, Son Held in 1977 Fort Bliss Slaying
Apr 02, 2013
El Paso Times, Texas
by Adriana M. Chavez

EL PASO, Texas -- The wife and stepson of a decorated Army officer killed in 1977 have been formally charged with causing his death.

An autopsy found that Chester Garrett, an Army Special Forces officer and a Green Beret, had a fractured skull, severe brain contusions and numerous stab wounds. He may have been already dead or unconscious when stabbed.

Court records show a state district court grand jury indicted Roger Evan Garrett, 54, and his mother, Lisbeth Ann Garrett, 74, on murder charges in the Jan. 3, 1977, slaying of Maj. Chester Garrett, whose body was found in a desert area in East El Paso County.

Last month, Roger Garrett was extradited from Knoxville, Tenn., where he had been living, to El Paso. Both Roger and Lisbeth Garrett remain in the El Paso County Jail on bonds of $1 million each. The bond amounts were reduced from $5 million during a recent bond hearing.

Cheri Ellington, Chester Garrett's oldest sister, expressed joy after hearing the news of the indictments. However, she said she was also disappointed that the bond amounts for Roger and Lisbeth Garrett were reduced because she fears Roger Garrett will try to skip his court appearances.
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Fort Bliss soldier acquitted in deaths of two others

Bliss soldier acquitted in slayings of 2 pvts.
The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Feb 22, 2013

EL PASO, Texas — A West Texas jury has acquitted a Fort Bliss soldier charged with murder in the shooting deaths of two fellow soldiers during an argument outside a bar.

Jurors in El Paso on Thursday acquitted Spc. Tyrone Head. The defense said Head fired into the air during the January 2012 incident and did not shoot anyone.

Prosecutors say Head was charged with murder because his actions served as a threat that led to the deaths of the two privates. The victims were Preston Brown and Damien Bailey.
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Maj. Chester Garrett's widow and stepson charged with his murder

Soldier's widow, stepson charged in '77 slaying
February 7, 2013

EL PASO, Texas (AP) — West Texas investigators say they've solved the 35-year-old slaying of an Army Green Beret with the arrest of his widow and stepson on murder charges in the death.

An El Paso County Sheriff's Office statement Thursday says 74-year-old Lisbeth Garrett was arrested in El Paso and charged in the 1977 death of her estranged husband, Army Maj. Chester Garrett. His stepson, 54-year-old Roger Evan Garrett, was arrested in Knoxville, Tenn. Both have $5 million bonds.
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Fort Carson 1st LT faces 100 years in prison

Alabama police release new details on Fort Carson soldier arrest
Emily Allen
General Assignment Reporter
Jan 03, 2013
EL PASO COUNTY, Colo.

Alabama police released new details on Thursday behind the charges on an arrest warrant for a Fort Carson soldier.

The El Paso County Sheriff's Office arrested 1st Lt. Aaron G. Lucas on Thursday on an arrest warrant from Madison, Ala., with charges of enticing a child and sexual child abuse of a child less than 12 years of age.

There are still a lot of unfinished cases involving Lucas. He faces 23 charges of sex crimes against young girls in El Paso County. He was arrested on Oct. 23, 2012, in connection with an El Paso County kidnapping case, a separate enticement of a child case and his connection to similar cases from other area jurisdictions.

He is accused of crimes in 14 incidents dating back to 2010. The charges he faces could put him in prison for more than 100 years. He was free on a $730,000 bond when the latest warrant was issued.

Lucas is an Afghanistan veteran who was awarded the Bronze Star.
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Friends of Crystal Nevarez Lugo raise money to bring her body home

Friends of murder-suicide victim raise money to help bring her body back home
KFOX
By Veronica Macias
Nov. 28, 2012

EL PASO, Texas — Friends of a Socorro woman found dead near a Juarez landfill after her husband allegedly killed her started the grieving process by raising money to bring her home.

Crystal Nevarez Lugo's body was found 300 meters from a Juarez landfill wrapped in a pink blanket, said Mexican authorities. Officials also said a note helped them find the body of 20-year-old Lugo on Tuesday afternoon.

Mexican officials were given information from El Paso authorities about an alleged confession from Johnny Ray Nevarez, the husband of Crystal Lugo.

El Paso County Sheriff Deputies found Nevarez's body after he shot himself in the desert of the Hueco Tanks area on Monday.
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Dad says PTSD is behind the tragic death of his son and daughter in-law

Dad says PTSD is behind the tragic death of his son and daughter in-law

Only on ABC-7: Johnnyray Nevarez's father speaks out about his son's murder-suicide.
Jimmy Nevarez says Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome or PTSD is behind the tragic death of his son and daughter in-law, Crystal Nevarez-Lugo.
ABC
Ashlie Rodriguez
Reporter
Nov 28, 2012

EL PASO, Texas
The father of 27-year-old Johnnyray Nevarez speaks out about his son's murder-suicide.

Jimmy Nevarez says Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome or PTSD is behind the tragic death of his son and daughter in-law, Crystal Nevarez-Lugo. It's an interview you'll only see on ABC-7.

"There's a lot of kids coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan that are coming back with PTSD," said the father of Johnnyray Nevarez, Jimmy Nevarez.

And 27-year-old Johnnyray Nevarez was one of them.

Johnnyray served in the Marines from 2003 to 2007, fighting in the bloody battle of Fallujah. He saw his friends killed by an IED blast only he survived. His broken ribs healed, but he could never forget that moment. After his first tour, his family tells me they could see the toll it took on their ambitious son. His father, Jimmy Nevarez, said one night he found his son hiding underneath the bed in fetal position, reliving his wartime terror. But, Jimmy says, Johnnyray only showed love and kindness toward his family.
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Friends of Crystal Nevarez Lugo raise money to bring her body home

Heartbroken Family Hopes To Help Others Battling PTSD

Heartbroken Family Hopes To Help Others Battling PTSD
Monday, November 12, 2012
Cathy Hernandez
Anchor/Multimedia Journalist
KDBC.com

EL PASO — Thousands of military members who go overseas to fight in war come back home with post traumatic stress disorder or PTSD, and the consequences can be tragic. A family who lost their loved one during his battle with PTSD is dedicating their lives to helping other military members and their families.

At a young age, Anthony Patrick Mena knew he was going to defend our country. He graduated from Eastwood High School in 2004 and joined the Air Force, based at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque.

"He loved his job. He was very young. He was only 18. It was the month after he had graduated from high school when he took off to basic training," said Pat Mena.

And not long after, he was ready to deploy to Iraq.

"He was really anxious to deploy,” said Pat Mena. “That was his big dream to serve his country, to go abroad and I begged him, 'Please hold off. Our country is at war right now' and I remember him telling me. We were sitting right here and he said, 'Momma, someone has to defend our country.'”

He returned home six months later. But, Pat Mena said her son was eager to go back. Just a year later, he deployed for a second time on a special mission to train Iraqi police officers.
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Fort Carson soldiers stranded on Pikes Peak

Military helicopters used to rescue Fort Carson soldiers stranded on Pikes Peak

April 14, 2012
by Richard J. Ortner

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. — Two military helicopters and eight crew members are assisting the El Paso County Search and Rescue team rescue an unknown number of soldiers from Pikes Peak, according to radio communications. read more here


4 hiking soldiers rescued from Pikes Peak
Denver Post
By The Gazette
COLORADO SPRINGS

El Paso County Search and Rescue crews were evacuating 4 stranded Fort Carson soldiers off Pikes Peak Saturday night, said Steve Sperry, a spokesman.
read more here

Three year old girl, taken from Mom's arms, raped, beaten and killed

3-Year-Old Girl Raped And Killed
Isaac Paul Vasquez - KFOX News Producer
Posted: 6:45 pm MDT July 30, 2011
Updated: 4:13 pm MDT July 31, 2011

CUAUHTEMOC, Mexico -- Police in Cuauhtemoc arrested two men they said raped and killed a 3-year-old.

The town sits about 60 miles west of Chihuahua City, Mexico.

KFOX media partners at the El Paso Times report that's where investigators said the men snatched the girl from her mother's arms.
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3-Year-Old Girl Raped And Killed

Iraq Veteran died in a psychiatric hospital in El Paso

Elgin man dies after serving in Iraq

By Elena Ferrarin
A 21-year-old Elgin man died Tuesday in Texas after suffering from traumatic brain injury resulting from an Army training exercise accident last year, his family said Saturday.

Timothy John “T.J.” Hansley died in a psychiatric hospital in El Paso, said his mother Trish Hansley. “We don’t know what happened; they can’t find the cause of death,” she said.

read more here
Elgin man dies after serving in Iraq

Soldier Escapes William Beaumont Army Medical Center?

UPDATE 3/24/11
Soldier found


Police called off the search for a soldier? The same soldier Army officials thought it was so important to get him to the medical center, they escorted him there? How much of this story makes sense?

Police Call Off Search For Soldier Who Fled From William Beaumont Medical Center

Soldier Escapes William Beaumont Army Medical Center
Monica Balderrama-KFOX News Reporter
Posted: 5:15 pm MDT March 22, 2011
Updated: 10:45 pm MDT March 22, 2011

EL PASO, Texas -- A Fort Bliss soldier who was about to get treated for a medical condition at William Beaumont Army Medical Center runs away from his chain of command. El Paso police have called off their search, but the soldier is still missing.

Police were called to the area near McKelligan Canyon and Alabama Street around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday to help search for a soldier who is accused of running from his chain of command.

"It's kinda scary. There was a brown car that was parked all crazy here," said northeast El Paso resident Erika Porras.

Porras saw the commotion in her neighborhood and she became worried.

Fort Bliss officials said Army officials were escorting the soldier to a doctor's appointment at William Beaumont Army Medical Center.

"He was escorted by a unit leader because we care and want to ensure our soldiers make their medical appointments," said Mayor Myles Caggins, the spokesperson for Fort Bliss.
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Soldier Escapes William Beaumont Army Medical Centerl