An illegal Mexican immigrant who allegedly went on a murderous crime spree in a small Ohio town this summer was indicted this week on multiple felony counts, including aggravated murder.
Juan Razo’s terror in Painesville, a small Lake County community, on July 27 came nearly a month after local police attempted to turn him over to border control agents, who declined to detain him, Cleveland.com reports.
Police contend Razo, 36, killed Margaret Kostelnik in her home after attempting to rape a 14-year-old girl at a local park and firing shots at a woman and her children along a bike path.
The odd string of events started when police received a report of an attempted rape at Lake MetroParks around 10:45 a.m. A 14-year-old girl alleged Razo tried to rape her, and authorities raided his home but didn’t locate him, according to the news site.
At about 2:45 p.m., another call came in about gunfire on a bike path, and a 40-year-old woman told police Razo shat at her and her two kids five times. One of the shots stuck her arm and sent her to the hospital.
“Shortly after 4 p.m., a deputy was approached by Kostelnik’s husband. He said he found his wife shot to death inside their home on the 6200 block of Ravenna Road. The house sits directly behind the area of Greenway Trail and the site of the earlier shooting,” Cleveland.com reports. “Minutes later, a Concord Township resident called the Lake County Sheriff’s Office to report that a man — later identified as Razo — was standing in his backyard with a rifle.”
A brief shootout with police ensued and Razo eventually surrendered.
He formally indicted Thursday on two counts each of aggravated murder, aggravated robbery, attempted murder, aggravated burglary, attempted rape and felonious assault. He’s also charged with three counts of kidnapping and one count of rape.
Razo is jailed on a $10 million bond.
During a court hearing this summer, Lake County Sheriff’s Det. Brian Butler told the court deputies contacted border patrol agents July 7 when they realized during a traffic stop that Razo was in the country illegally, but agents advised to let him go, Cleveland.com reports.
Immigrations and customs Enforcement spokesman Khaalid Walls said the agency “intends to take custody of (Razo) and pursue his removal from the United States.”
The case, of course, seems to confirm the assertions of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump that some Mexican immigrants in the U.S. are rapists and criminals.
Officials with the immigrant advocacy group HOLA Ohio have spoken out in support of Razo and his family – people Executive Director Veronica Dahlberg told ABC 5 she’s known for years.
“His father’s been here working in the fields for 40 years or more, came here when he was a youth and is a U.S. citizen,” Dahlberg told the news site.
“He’s been here since probably about the age of 14 at least, the family’s been here a very long time … they’ve worked in the nurseries and landscaping industry here, so it’s an established family,” she said. “It wasn’t just somebody who came over and wanted to do harm.”
Dahlberg alleges Razo has mental health issues that contributed to his actions.
Razo isn’t the only illegal immigrant facing rape charges this week.
Gloucester City News reports 33-year-old Juan Campos-Morales, an illegal immigrant from Guatemala, was arrested recently on charges of sexual assault on a child under the age of 16 in Woodbury, New Jersey on multiple occasions in 2014 and 2015.
The victim told a teacher about the abuse and school officials contacted authorities.
Local police alerted immigration officials to Campos-Marales’ status.
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