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Long Beach: Planes, Pot, Obama and ICE Firefight

A lot of action in Long Beach today. At 2:30 p.m., a small plane crossed into President Obama's airspace in Riverside, CA while he was in the Marine One Helicopter en route to the airport. Fighter jets intercepted the plane and followed it until it landed at Long Beach at 2:30 pm. The plane was searched when it landed, and officials found 40 pounds of marijuana in it. The pilot was questioned by Homeland Security, turned over to local police and booked into the Long Beach jail. The plane is registered to David W. Major and is based in Grover Beach, Calif., near San Luis Obispo.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Virginia Kice said the department's Homeland Security Investigations unit questioned the pilot, who has been turned over to Long Beach police and remains in custody. He will face local prosecution, Kice said.

Also today, just before 6 pm, three ICE agents were involved in a shootout -- with each other -- on the 7th floor of the federal building in Long Beach. Two died, one is in the hospital. Here's Norad's statement on the incident. The shooter was one of those killed.(Update: ICE says only two agents were involved, one of whom died.)

I wonder if the incidents are related. The Long Beach Courthouse (state) is across the street from the federal building. Were any of the ICE agents in the shootout involved in the earlier search of the plane or questioning of the pilot? Or with Obama's visit? Updates below:

Update: the LA Times reports:
The shooter is believed to have opened fire on his supervisor over an unspecified dispute, law enforcement authorities told The Times. As the supervisor lay wounded, another agent jumped in and tried to subdue the gunman. Another round of gunfire broke out, authorties said.

It's unclear if the shooter shot himself or was shot by the intervening agent.

Update: ICE has released a statement saying only two ICE agents were involved -- one is dead, the other survived. More here on the changing story.

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  • Display: Sort:
    One of my best buds from high school... (5.00 / 1) (#5)
    by Dadler on Fri Feb 17, 2012 at 01:09:25 AM EST
    ...works the tower at Long Beach.  I should give him a phoner and get the real dope.  Er, scratch that.  Don't come get me, feds.

    Jeralyn, you wonder (5.00 / 2) (#6)
    by Zorba on Fri Feb 17, 2012 at 07:58:48 AM EST
    "if the incidents are related"?  Pure speculation at this point.  Correlation does not mean causation.  As a criminal defense lawyer, you of all people should know this!

    wondering is not (none / 0) (#13)
    by Jeralyn on Fri Feb 17, 2012 at 03:56:58 PM EST
    the same thing as suggesting, I did not suggest they were related.

    Parent
    Fair enough. (none / 0) (#15)
    by Zorba on Fri Feb 17, 2012 at 03:59:05 PM EST
    ;-)

    Parent
    I think that is probably why she chose the word (5.00 / 1) (#7)
    by ruffian on Fri Feb 17, 2012 at 08:43:55 AM EST
    'wonder' rather than 'suspect' or 'think'. I'm not sure wonder even rises to the level of speculation!

    Ooops - meant as a reply to Zorba at #6 (none / 0) (#8)
    by ruffian on Fri Feb 17, 2012 at 08:44:26 AM EST
    Gee, I've heard of government agents (none / 0) (#1)
    by Edger on Thu Feb 16, 2012 at 10:07:45 PM EST
    shooting themselves in the foot before, but this is carrying things a little far isn't it?

    Curious statement in the NBC article:

    The third victim, repeatedly referred to as a man, was reportedly shot in the upper body.

    ??

    maybe one of the agents involved (none / 0) (#2)
    by Jeralyn on Thu Feb 16, 2012 at 10:14:23 PM EST
    was a female

    Parent
    I guess so (none / 0) (#3)
    by Edger on Thu Feb 16, 2012 at 10:27:17 PM EST
    I just thought it was an odd statement in a news article... like it was meant to be followed by a clarifying sentence that ended up left out?

    Parent
    It never would have happened if the irate (none / 0) (#4)
    by Mr Natural on Thu Feb 16, 2012 at 11:43:07 PM EST
    underling had his own tank, like the tiny bucolic town of Keene, New Hampshire, is having jammed down its throat by the social reengineering sociopaths of Homeland Security:


    Parent
    Talk about... (none / 0) (#9)
    by kdog on Fri Feb 17, 2012 at 09:16:00 AM EST
    a presidential visit totally jamming up your day.

    The least Obama can do is reimburse the poor guy for the 40 lbs...it is his fault the guy got caught.  If it was a federal prosecution, I'd also suggest a pardon is in order.  

    Ha! Yeah, that guy is the unluckiest (none / 0) (#10)
    by ruffian on Fri Feb 17, 2012 at 09:34:21 AM EST
    pot distributor known to man. Like an episode of Weeds.

    Parent
    If ya ask me... (none / 0) (#11)
    by kdog on Fri Feb 17, 2012 at 10:01:11 AM EST
    the distributor should get the FAA right of way in such an instance...he was working for a living, the pres was just out begging.

    Parent
    Heh... and I thought I had it rough when I (none / 0) (#16)
    by jimakaPPJ on Fri Feb 17, 2012 at 04:52:20 PM EST
    got jammed up on the 101 by one of Al Gore's many visits to Siclian Valley.

    Parent
    Jim, sweetie, try (none / 0) (#17)
    by Zorba on Fri Feb 17, 2012 at 06:22:17 PM EST
    driving into DC anytime the President is being ferried around.  Any President (we've lived in Maryland since the Reagan administration).  Any President, Vice President, or even important candidate.  And, BTW, it's "Silicon."  Spell-check is your friend.   ;-)  

    Parent
    Zorba (none / 0) (#18)
    by jimakaPPJ on Fri Feb 17, 2012 at 10:55:43 PM EST
    Some of us have successfully managed to avoid such places of residence as DC and NYC, although Chicago, Seattle and Denver were no push overs.

    Parent
    Whoooooosssshhhhhhh .... (5.00 / 0) (#19)
    by Yman on Sat Feb 18, 2012 at 09:04:55 AM EST
    ... right over your head ...

    Parent
    According to LAT, ICE agent (none / 0) (#12)
    by oculus on Fri Feb 17, 2012 at 10:52:02 AM EST
    shot own supervisor. Then a third ICE person shot and killed the initial shooter.

    some news sources say (none / 0) (#14)
    by Jeralyn on Fri Feb 17, 2012 at 03:58:04 PM EST
    the person killed was a supervisor but not the shooter's supervisor. The story is far from clear.

    Parent