Broward Deputy who Shot Mexican Immigrant is Fired

Broward Sheriff Ken Jenne agreed Thursday to pay for 60 more days of care for a Mexican immigrant accidentally shot in the head by a deputy who thought he was a burglary suspect. The deputy involved in the shooting, Louis Perry, said the Broward Sheriff's Office fired him Thursday in an unrelated matter. BSO spokesman Jim Leljedal, reached late Thursday, could not confirm Perry's termination. ''To me, the firing appears to be related to the shooting,'' said Barbara Duffy, Perry's union attorney. ``The internal investigation was flawed from the beginning and I can't imagine it being upheld when we go to arbitration.'' The shooting occurred about 6:40 p.m. Nov. 3 after deputies responded to a call of a burglary at the Whispering Isles complex on West Sample Road in Pompano Beach. Deputies Perry, 38, and Richard Mosca, 37, saw two men, Germán Goméz, and his cousin, Javier Domínguez, 21, who had arrived in Pompano Beach three days before the shooting. Perry and Mosca, with guns drawn, tried to talk to the pair, who were walking in the parking lot. Goméz and Domínguez, undocumented workers from Chiapas, Mexico, did not speak English. The deputies spoke no Spanish. When Perry attempted to restrain Goméz, his gun accidentally discharged, he told investigators. The bullet tore into Goméz's head. [more]