Kino Springs, AZ – A 73-year-old Arizona rancher was arrested and charged with first-degree murder for fatally shooting an illegal alien on his ranch.
George Alan Kelly, 73, was arrested for killing Gabriel Cuen-Butimea, on his Arizona ranch in Kino Springs just outside of Nogales, Mexico on January 30.
Kelly is being held at the Santa Cruz County jail on $1 million bond.
George Kelly asked the judge to reduce his bail so he can go home to take care of his wife.
“She’s there by herself… nobody to take care of her, the livestock or the ranch,” he said, according to Nogales International. “And I’m not going anywhere. I can’t come up with a million dollars,” he said.
According to reports, Gabriel Cuen-Butimea has a history of illegally crossing into the United States and multiple deportations.
Authorities found a Mexican voter registration card on the decedent.
According to the defense lawyers, Mr. Kelly fired warning shots after he saw a group of men dressed in camouflaged clothing point an AK-47 right at him.
George Alan Kelly was careful to shoot above their heads, the lawyers said.
The rancher later discovered the deceased man after he went to check on his horse.
“As the sun was going down later that day, Kelly went to his pastures to check on his horse, still concerned the horse might have been injured in the incident. Noticing that the dogs he took with him were focused on something on the ground near a mesquite tree, Kelly approached the area and “observed a body lying face down in the grass,” Larkin wrote. He then called the Border Patrol ranch liaison a third time to report the discovery and request assistance from law enforcement.” – Fox News reported.
Now this…
George Alan Kelly was hit with new charges ahead of his preliminary hearing!
The elderly rancher was hit with two charges of aggravated assault in addition to the first-degree premeditated murder charge.
Fox News reported:
Arizona rancher George Alan Kelly, who already faces a first-degree murder charge for the shooting death of a Mexican man, now also faces two charges of aggravated assault Tuesday, just one day before his scheduled preliminary hearing.
The additional counts filed in Santa Cruz County each say Kelly “using a rifle, a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument, intentionally did place [unnamed person], in reasonable apprehension of imminent physical injury.” But this filing like others from the government so far fails to specify how or why authorities believe Kelly is the responsible party.
In his own court filing from earlier this month, Kelly — who remains held on $1 million bond — says he’s an innocent man. He admits to firing his rifle in the air in late January to scare off armed drug traffickers. Those men, he says, are the ones responsible for the shooting death of a Mexican national found shot to death on Kelly’s borderland property outside Nogales.