Murders of Raul and Brisenia Flores

Murders of Raul and Brisenia Flores
Raul and Brisenia Flores
Location	36000 block, Mesquite Road Arivaca, Arizona
Date	30 May 2009 5 a.m. (UTC-7)
Attack type	Armed robbery Home invasion Premeditated murder
Weapons	Firearm
Deaths	2
Non-fatal injuries	2 (including one attacker)
Perpetrators	Jason Eugene Bush Shawna Forde Albert Gaxiola

On May 30, 2009, 29-year-old Raul Flores, Jr., and his daughter, 9-year-old Brisenia Ylianna Flores, were murdered at their home in Arivaca, Arizona, during a robbery by Shawna Forde, Jason Eugene Bush, and Albert Gaxiola. Gina Gonzalez, the victims' wife and mother, survived the attack.

Forde and her accomplices gained entry to the Flores home by claiming they were officials looking for fugitives and that the suspects had the expectation of finding money and drugs that could be sold to finance Forde's militia group, the "Minutemen American Defense", which patrolled Arizona's border with Mexico. When they found no drugs, the intruders took jewelry and shot 29-year-old Raul Flores, Jr., and his daughter, 9-year-old Brisenia Ylianna Flores, to death.

Gina Marie Gonzalez, the 31-year-old wife of Raul Flores and the mother of Brisenia, was in the home during the attack and was shot three times. She survived because she pretended to be dead. When the assailants left the home, Gonzalez called 911 emergency services and armed herself with her husband's handgun. While Gonzalez was on the phone, the assailants re-entered the home, and Gonzalez fired the gun, wounding Bush. The killers then fled. Gonzalez identified two men; one white, the other Mexican, and a white woman as the attackers. Gonzales identified the white man (Bush) had murdered her daughter and her husband.

An early exchange within the 911 call was recorded as follows:

Gonzalez: "They shot me and I pretended like I was dead. My daughter was crying. They shot her, too.
Operator: "Are they still there, the people who, that shot them?"
Gonzalez: "They're coming back in! They're coming back in!" (Gunfire.)

Brisenia was a third-grade student at the Sopori Elementary School in Amado, Arizona, at the time of her death. Another of the Flores's daughters, a 12-year-old, was at her grandmother's home in Sahuarita, Arizona, during the attack.

Arriving at a decision was difficult, according to jurist Angie Thomas. A picture of Brisenia presented during the trial was a significant factor in reaching the decision, she said. "A little girl, with bright red fingernails; she's wearing a white T-shirt and turquoise-colored pajama bottoms. She's on a love seat. It's a perfect, innocent picture until you realize that half of her face has been blown off."

Gina testified that her daughter was shot point-blank as the girl pleaded for her life."

Shawna Forde, Jason Eugene Bush, and Albert Gaxiola were all convicted of the murders. Forde and Bush were sentenced to death, while Gaxiola was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole plus 54 years.