Second violent crime linked to ATF gunwalking
A second violent crime in Arizona has been linked to weapons from ATF's "gunwalking" operation: Fast and Furious. The first known crime was the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.
Arizona state police revealed yesterday that two guns from Fast and Furious were found in an arrest involving two Mexican men who assaulted detectives outside Phoenix in 2010. Nobody was seriously hurt.
Fast and furious is the operation in which ATF allowed thousands of weapons to "walk" into the hands of suspected traffickers for Mexican drug cartels.It's unclear why the year-old case and its link to Fast and Furious were revealed now, with the apparent blessing of ATF headquarters.
News of this case set off a wave of confusion among Congressional investigators who have tried unsuccessfully to identify additional violent crimes in the U.S. linked to which Fast and Furious. They say the Justice Department still hasn't told them about the 2010 Phoenix case, despite their ongoing written requests for such information.
In July, the Justice Department acknowledged Terry's death wasn't the only U.S. violent crime involving Fast and Furious weapons - it originally said there were 11 more -- but refused to provide Congress any details. Then, more than a month later on September 1, the Justice Department revised the number of cases downward from 11 to just two. Congressional investigators have doggedly pursued the Justice Department for information on the second mysterious case, but never received the information. Today, it's still unknown whether the new case is indeed the second case the Justice Department had referred to.
One Congressional investigator told CBS News: "We're no closer to finding out what the Justice Department knows about all the crimes committed" with Fast and Furious guns.
