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Minuteman Leader Shawna Forde Talked About Gunfight

Posted February 23, 2010 by Patrick Young, Esq.

Shawna Forde, the leader of Minuteman American Defense (MAD), reportedly told a man who was to participate in a MAD operation that led to the deaths of two Latinos about the killings. Jason Bush, the number two man in MAD and Albert Gaxiola, a drug dealer in Arizona, allegedly planned and carried out an attack with Forde on the Arivaca, Az. home of Raul Flores that left Raul and his daughter Brisenia dead. Flores’s wife was shot three times as well, but was able to get a gun and drive off the attackers before they killed her.

Scott North of the Everett Herald, Forde’s hometown newspaper, writes that Oin Oakstar, an Arizona ex-con from Arivaca scouted out the Flores home for MAD and was supposed to go on the “mission” to rob the house to raise money for the minuteman cause, but he was too drunk to accompany his comrades. Here are some excepts from Scott North’s story:

Oakstar was arrested within hours of the Flores killings after people in Arivaca directed suspicion his way.

In a Sept. 25 statement to prosecutors, Oakstar said his arrest came as he was walking home from a post-raid meeting in Gaxiola’s house with Forde and Bush. He said he gave Bush pain pills and was nervous because Bush kept one of his hands hidden under a blanket.

Oakstar said he had only just met the pair, but at Gaxiola’s urging had earlier driven them past the Flores home on a scouting trip.

Oakstar reportedly told police there had been some talk about using force to eliminate Raul Flores as a threat during the holdup, including use of a sniper, but there was no plan to harm the man’s family….

Oakstar told prosecutors that first Bush, then Forde, recounted what happened during the raid:

“I was standing in the doorway of the bedroom when she came in and I kinda put my back to the wall ‘cause I was still keeping an eye on Jason’s hand that he had under the blanket. And she came around and was standing to my right and she started to explain that things had gone to (expletive), that it didn’t work out, that, um, they had gotten in a shoot out, and that Junior (Raul Flores) was dead, that his daughter was dead, but his wife was still alive.”

Oakstar said he told Forde and Bush that they had “messed up,” that “you can’t shoot women and kids.” He said Forde and Bush told him “it just happened that way.”

According to court papers, Raul Flores was shot a total of six times; with bullets striking his head, chest and right arm. Brisenia Flores was shot twice in the face, including one shot fired so close the gun’s barrel touched her cheek.

Tags : hate crimes, hate watch, minutemen, shawna forde

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