CLEVELAND – U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents told Ohio sheriff’s deputies weeks ago not to detain a man who is in the U.S. illegally and now suspected of killing a woman and wounding another during a crime spree, law enforcement officials said Tuesday.
Lake County sheriff’s deputies questioned 35-year-old Juan Emmanuel Razo on July 7 after finding him alone in a car in Painesville, about 30 miles east of Cleveland. Unsure of Razo’s status, the deputies contacted Border Protection officials and were told he is from Mexico and in the U.S. illegally but they didn’t want him detained.
Lake County Sheriff Dan Dunlap said at a news conference Tuesday that deputies released Razo because he hadn’t committed a crime at that point.
A Border Protection spokesman did not return telephone messages seeking comment. A spokesman for U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement said in an email that ICE was closely monitoring the case. The email identified Razo as Juan Emmanuel Razo-Ramirez.
Razo was arrested Monday after a shootout with police. A detective said during a court hearing Tuesday that Razo has confessed. A judge set his bond at $10 million.
Razo has been charged with attempted murder in the shooting of a 40-year-old woman Monday afternoon as she walked with her two children along a bike path in Concord Township. She was shot in the arm. Just over an hour later, a man told park rangers he’d found his wife, 60-year-old Margaret Kostelnik, shot to death in their home near the bike path.
The Lake County coroner said Kostelnik was shot multiple times.
The manhunt for Razo began late Monday morning after a 14-year-old girl told police he had tried to rape her in another section of the park. The Lake County prosecutor said evidence in the slaying of Kostelnik and the attempted rape will be presented to a grand jury.
A public defender entered a not guilty plea for Razo on Tuesday.
That’s OK. Barry and company have got our backs. He’ll be released in no time and put back on the streets. He didn’t mean to kill anyone. He’s just had a rough life and is trying to adapt to his new foreign environment. No biggie. Just give him a little more time to adjust. (sarcasm)
Unfrigginbelievable….
Next time just make sure he is well ventilated.
“… he is from Mexico and in the U.S. illegally…”
“… deputies released Razo because he hadn’t committed a crime at that point.”
Which is it?
Can’t be both.