Been There – Great post. With the exception of one individual (and I don’t mean Zeke) – I am sorry for all those in the LA office having to go through this thing.

Hopefully the media will get wind of what is actually going on and stop blowing the ‘Hero’ horn. Its a travesty that Morton is blowing anyone’s horn before a full fact finding investigation into the matter is complete. Shame on you John Morton. Totally unprofessional and completely idiotic.

belugajedi on February 18, 2012 at 4:07 pm

These comments are indicative of the tremendous mistake that this merger was from its inception and continues to be. Each agency conducted very different investigations than the other. Customs required more education at FLETC (CITP)and then specialization in Customs laws. INS was documented by GAO over several decades as being a failed agency. Legacy Immigration agents were not trained as criminal investigators (no CITP school required). To make the legacy INS agents equal by simply merging them with the expectation to conduct traditional complex Customs investigations was a failed concept. The most successful SAC offices were those that kept the merged agents working within their investigative disciplines. Legacy Customs agents had no desire to work Immigration cases. The immersing of these agents into investigative groups they had no desire to be in created hostile work environments while many agents fled to other Federal law enforcement agencies as soon as they could.

There is no justification for this shooting. Lives are forever affected. Instead of all the useless whining here, try to make a difference, hold yourselves to a higher standard and be as objective as one can. No one has a perfect career, in particular, in law enforcement during these trying times. There are and always have been mechanisms in place for dispute resolution. None of which ever included the use of firearms.

patria1 on February 18, 2012 at 5:17 pm

ICE has been melting for a long time. It needs the restructuring that is currently occurring in the Air Marshals. The immigration and Customs functions need to be split and ICE should be thrown into the ash heap of history.

Jeff H. on February 18, 2012 at 5:40 pm

There is no justification for this incident. What does it say about us as a society when some are trying to find some merit or good in this tragic event. Federal Agents shoot the bad guys (when necessary), Federal Agents don’t shoot other Federal Agents.
For those that agree that somehow the shooting was justified because of the shooter was frustrated or pushed to the brink, you should leave the federal service, you don’t deserve the privilege and responsibility of being a federal agent, or any law enforcement officer.

You don’t solve any of the agency’s (DHS/ICE/HSI)problems through the barrel of a gun.

True, there are those abusive, bullying, cynical, sadistic, psycho-managers that relish the thought of nailing an agent that they do not like, and get a thrill through constant passive-aggresive, and aggressive, harassment of that agent, giving them demeaning assignments, and wanting to know their whereabouts every hour of the working day, just constant haranguing But there are also those that on board for the free ride and GS-13/14 pay, that do the bare minimum, and are never available after hours. They should be disciplined. Then are are those that do the bare minimum and get no discipline, because they are friends with the supervisor or ASAC, lunch buddies and ass kissers.

If filing complaints against a SAC for racism, discrimination, unfair labor practices was a gauge for measuring the morale and performance of any SAC office, then the SAC Chicago office would, just as the agency, rank near the bottom. When the SAC tells all personnel, at an all hands meeting, that she had never seen so many EEO complaints filed, and that she “didn’t give a shit” about them, what does that tell about the SAC as a competent leader. She wasn’t. She was well known for promoting her “pets” most of them females, to GS-14 spots. That’s fine, no gender discrimination here, except the one’s she promoted were the most inept, incompetent, inexperienced, idiots. Their only claim to fame was that they were close friends of the SAC. The clique came to be known as the “Kotex Mafia”, and if you ever disagreed with any of the SAC’s policies you had better keep it to yourself, because if any of the Kotex Mafia caught wind of something you said they headed straight for the SAC’s office, and you were essentially dead meat. Talk about a hostile work environment, the SAC Chicago office was it. All of the made members of the Kotex Mafia operated this way, and they encouraged the connected gals, the wannabes, to act accordingly, they complied with relish, knowing that when the SAC opened the books, they would be inducted as a made member GS-14. One of the biggest losers was a female ASAC of that office, a miserable, deviate, skank. She ruled through fear and intimidation, knowing that the SAC, whom by the way was a black female, had her back. You would think that having a “minority” SAC would be beneficial for all of the “minorities” in the SAC Chicago, it wasn’t. A Hispanic or a Black could not catch a break under her tutelage. Hence all of the EEO’s, at least 25-30 during the last few years of her reign of terror, which by the way were not all filed by Hispanics and Blacks, a lot of them were filed by Whites, especially the upper 14’s and ASAC’s. And, most, and maybe all, of the EEO complaints filed by Whites were settled or resolved. DHS/ICE/HSI fought the Blacks and Hispanics every step of the way, and very few, a minority, were resolved. What does that tell you about DHS/ICE/HSI?

DHS/ICE/HSI is claimed to be a “young agency” by the Director and Commissioner, or whatever they are called. I would say that it is more than that, that there is a very big problem at DHS/ICE/HSI, that is not being addressed, and I am afraid that it sets the stage for more tragic incidents to happen.

I wouldn’t put you on because it really did, it happened just as described above.

Putting an end to such bullying at the workplace by these incompetent clowns should be a priority for DHS/ICE/HSI.

QTD on February 18, 2012 at 5:44 pm

…and it has not changed at all at the SAC/Chicago, the Clowns still reign, bullying and harassing agents; the ass kissers are still kissing ass, hoping it’s the right one for favors and promotions, part of the Kotex Mafia is still operating albeit with less power now that the old POS SAC retired, the Skank is still there miserable as ever. And all that crap about “for the good of the service” that’s all bs, just another tool they use, selectively enforced on agents they don’t like.

QTD on February 18, 2012 at 6:14 pm

More and more top news stories are mentioning the ICE internal conflict. Debbie is quoted in this story:

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2012/0218/ICE-Long-Beach-shootout-As-immigration-cauldron-boils-ICE-agents-buckle

In media parlance, this story has grown legs, meaning that the behind the scenes story is spreading like wildfire. The major medias will be competing for the exclusive inside scoop.
Now would be the time to contact any investigative reporter contacts that you may have. Blood has been spilt, and when it bleeds, it leads on the news.

N: Actually, now would be the time to contact and give that info to me to post on this site, but thanks for promoting the competition, while you read this site. What am I–chopped liver? DS

Newshound on February 18, 2012 at 6:52 pm

Kids,

So the FBI takes over the internal investigation because of the shooting. They see that ICE has way too many internal national security issues. In the end the get all the high end investigaions export and such. I say good for them.

Old School

Old School on February 18, 2012 at 7:51 pm

That was a good post “Been There”; although I would caution taking statistics from the LA TImes as gospel. However, they do quote the U.S. Attorney’s Office around that time period, “INS investigations accepted for prosecution resulted in a 75% conviction rate” that’s that they won 3 out of 4 cases where the FBI lost 3 out of 4 cases. Counterfeit greencards, smuggling aliens, human trafficking were very difficult cases, although most of the re-entry after deportation cases were more routine, those cases often lead you through complex appeals all the way to the Supreme Court sometimes. LA only did four re-entry cases one year but ramped them up to hundreds depending on the political climate, management, and resources. I estimate that by the end of the first year of the merger there were only around 1200 INS investigators total. The 2000 figure was a guess and because text books had to be ordered to train the legacy agents, my guess is as good or better than most. Many SACs including the INS investigations heads had absolutely no idea how many text books to order, or more simply put how many agents worked for them.

As far as the Criminal Investigator Training Program, that was a very basic course that was kept out of the INS Special Agent training to keep them from moving to another agency, but something an agent could attend if he got permission which few did. Many INS agents had to go back through the whole FLETC program again, those that did not very much earned that right to be grandfathered through the CITP, believe me PAT. Many Customs agents believe their Criminal Justice degrees from colleges no one has heard of entitle them to make fun or belittle some of the INS agents, shame on you. I’ll match some of their degrees and universities against the best of the old Customs’ Service any day, so please be quiet with stupid comments about CITP, most INS inspectors were at FLETC for over 20 weeks, second only to one or two agencies depending on the year and holidays. Many of the screw-ups attributed to the INS were service related, political, contractors, you ever seen what a million files looks like? However, the INS investigations had to be done often with little support and relationship were very difficult with police departments and other agencies. Many police officers were married to illegal aliens or had an ax to grind. You had no friends in the INS outside of the office and that office was hostile before and after the merger. So adding the complaining hostile Customs agents only made things more difficult, working with agents who wouldn’t accept the new mission was very hard.

Figures lie, and liars figure on February 18, 2012 at 8:12 pm

QTD, do not put words in my mouth. No one has said that attempted murder is justified.

However, I did say, (and what I repeatedly hear being said by others in these comments), is this:

When a seasoned 20 year Senior Supervisory Agent as level-headed and reasonable a person as was Zeke Garcia resorts to such violence, it begs the question of what has provoked such a violent response from such a mild-mannered, even-tempered individual.

IMO Kozak, a Legacy Customs Manager, fostered an anti-Legacy INS culture at SAC/LA.

Any and all provocation of Zeke by Kozak should be taken in account and weighed in respect to its contribution to this incident. IMO Kozak’s provocation, both as a manager in general in creating a hostile work environment for Legacy INS personnel, and at the meeting with Zeke should be taken into consideration.

IMO Zeke Garcia is not a loose cannon who just walked into Kozak’s office and opened fire. He is a well seasoned agent who has spent 20 years in the pressure cooker known as INS/INV Los Angeles. Something or someone provoked him. Of course a murderous response is not justified. However, I believe Kozak personal behavior and managerial style played a leading/major contributory role in this incident.

Sorry, but IMO Kozak is far from being the pure white innocent hero being portrayed by Morton. And, by the way, I am very sorry that he was wounded/injured and I hope that he makes a speedy and full recovery.

Zeke Garcia was more vulnerable to harassment by Kozak than regular agents because, being a supervisor, he was probably less inclined to file a complaint or to seek help for stress related disorders. There appeared to be a pattern of harassment of Legacy INS Supervisors in particular. Did Kozak take advantage of their relative vulnerability to target them for harassment.

These are all questions that any good investigations will fully explore and completely answer. however, with the head of the ICE already pronouncing the results of the investigations completely exonerating Kozak and calling him a hero, I fear these questions will be conveniently ignored. In fact it appears that Kozak will be made to appear to be a hero no matter what evidence of his provocation of this incident surfaces to the contrary.

patria1 let’s not stoop to typical “cool blue” cheap shot artistry of how smart you think Customs agents are vs. INS agents. This snobbery is irrelevant and demeaning. What is relevant is who was completing federal criminal prosecutions and putting federal offenders behind bars.

The facts and statistics that I reported from the Department of Justice showing which agency completed the most prosecution in 2002 prior to the merger speak for themselves: INS was completing more than double the prosecutions than Customs, with far less cases declined than Customs, and with 200 less agents than Customs.

Been There on February 18, 2012 at 8:22 pm

Here we are ten years into this and the morons are still pulling this my legacy agency was better crap. Look around dummies; if you are a legacy anything you are one of the few. The vast majority of agents in this agency were hired after the merger. I am a dinosaur myself, but I go in and bust my butt every day. I am not a regular commenter on this or any other site. However, I would like to add my perspective. I have been both a legacy INS 1811 and a legacy Customs 1811.

Everybody’s truths are different, what is true in one SAC/RAC is not true in another.

Truth as I see it.

Patria1: Customs required more education at FLETC (CITP) and then specialization in Customs laws.

Truth: A college degree was not required by INS to be an 1811. However, the vast majority of INS 1811s had 4-year degrees. The few that did not, I knew two, had extensive military and law enforcement backgrounds. The two I know both have masters degrees plus right now. Customs did not require a four-year degree until the mid to late 90’s. I knew several former Customs Patrol guys who did not have degrees and were made 1811s. They were all fantastic agents, and have all retired. Patria1 I hope you do not embarrass yourself or our agency when you are dealing with state/local LEOs without degrees, and assume they are stupid

Patria1: INS was documented by GAO over several decades as being a failed agency.

Truth: This is a well known fact. INS’ mission was ever evolving and politically charged (sound familiar). The problem should be laid at the feet of every President and elected official since 1965. Do not blame the agents for our national collective failure at having a clear and concise immigration policy. God help us as a nation if there is ever another amnesty.

Patria1: Legacy Immigration agents were not trained as criminal investigators (no CITP school required).

The vast majority of INS 1811s did go to CITP. I went from the Border Patrol to INS and did not go to CITP until I went to Customs. Trust me a silly piece of paper handed to you by FLETC is no substitute for experience. I found CITP a complete waste of time, and often completely irrelevant. If a CITP certificate is what you are using to prop up your self-esteem, you might want to go for that penal implant.

Patria1: To make the legacy INS agents equal by simply merging them with the expectation to conduct traditional complex Customs investigations was a failed concept.

While it is true that some INS 1811s did not do complex cases as a tax payer, would you want the government spending 4 hours investigative time to put a re-entry gang banger or serial rapist in prison for 5 years or have the government spend hundreds of man hours to build a complex smuggling case involving the importation of counterfeit NFL merchandise where the perpetrator gets time served? By the way, I worked on more T3s with INS than I did with Customs. Human trafficking cases, benefit fraud cases, and gang cases are every bit as complex as a narcotics or money case. Many Customs guys I know only did tag and bag cases at the airport, not much complexity there.
Been There: Every Legacy Customs agent who had prior INS experience that I know had been a failure in INS, and had never completed a criminal case. It’s a joke to say that they left INS to pursue more “cerebral” work.
In fact, they did not have the stomach for the comparatively tough INS street work and the complexities of dealing with foreigners to make criminal cases.
Truth: You are a DB, I worked the street/border with both INS and Customs. You are cut from the same cloth as King David. He in my opinion is some loser who likes to stir up $hit. My guess is he is an import specialist.
The sad truth about this situation is that there was a complete breakdown in leadership. The DSAC paid the price for all the managers in the shooter’s chain of command. My understanding is that Garcia was having problems at home. Instead of being a leader and helping the guy, his management didn’t just turn their back on him the tormented him. Diesel therapy was not created by the BOP, it was created by government managers to torture their subordinates. The military taught me that leaders take care of their troop regardless of their personal feelings about a particular soldier. When a subordinate’s life is in crisis, you lead, you help him through the crisis. When the crisis is over you work with him to get him back on track. That apparently did not happen here.
Garcia went from being a victim to being a criminal in one stupid moment. He is not to be held up as a martyr. However, my prayers are with his family.
Every agent in his career will be standing on the carpet in a manager’s office at the end of the day at least once. If you work, you will make mistakes. I believe that it is taught at management school to hand out discipline at the end of the day, and run to your car. That way it gives the employee a night or weekend to calm down.
Every agent will work for at least one boss who hates them, and will do anything to ruin their lives both professionally and personally. Not all, but a large proportion of government managers are dysfunctional people themselves. They love to spread the misery.
Feel free to disagree, but lets all row together. My office is in the best shape it has been since the merger. Hopefully we can get back to where things were. We have 1811s from other agencies trying to join ICE. I don’t see the exodus that we had after the merger. I don’t see anyone jumping ship any more.

Wraith on February 18, 2012 at 8:34 pm

Old School,
ICE could have all of the Strategic and drug work that it could handle if ICE Management focused more on pursuing the mission and less on pursuing petty harassment, counting ROI’s, Virtual University, etc. SIRS, SARS, harvesting statistics. ICE needs to free up and release agents from such petty chickenshit so they can actually do their jobs.

Been There on February 18, 2012 at 8:39 pm

What happened at the ICE Office in LA could have happened and has happened within countless work environments. While Zeke Garcia may have been a mild mannered individual he was “unbalanced.” All of us have experienced working for a bad boss. All of us have not gone out an shot our boss. Zeke meant to kill Kozak. You don’t fire multiple shots at an individual by accident. Zeke was about to be disciplined. If the disciplinary action was unwarranted Zeke had options (other than murder).

To say that the discipline being levied against Zeke was unwarranted is irresponsible not knowing all of the facts. To judge Kevin Kozak for Zeke shooting him is also irresponsible.

As a former ICE Agent with 32 years of experience I get sick to my stomach when I listen to Special Agents getting paid an average of $150,000 per year while crying about having to be held accountable to management. I get sick when I hear them portraying an demented and disturbed individual such as Zeke as a hero. I get sick when I hear about Special Agents blaming a management official such as Kozak for “driving” Zeke to have done what he did. It seems as though the LA office still has a bunch of demented Agents in addition to Zeke. Maybe they should turn their guns on themselves rather than management officials like Kevin Kozak who are only guilty of doing their job. By doing so they would not only be doing a service to the Agency but the country as well. Most of these Agents would have been pumping gas had they not been picked up by ICE.

Truthful on February 18, 2012 at 9:24 pm

Where can I get me one of those PENILE implants?

#1 Vato on February 18, 2012 at 9:28 pm

Wraith and Truthful, I have no information that Zeke Garcia was suffering from any disorder whatsoever on the day of this incident. Do you? Or, are you just kind of off-the-cuff speculating?

As I have said, I have known Zeke Garcia for my entire 20 year career. In my day to day dealings with Zeke over this time period, Zeke was one of the most level-headed, reasonable guys in the office. Of all of the agents that I have known, Zeke would be the least likeliest that I would consider prone to resorting to violence. To the contrary, Zeke would be the one I would call upon to calm a scene/situation. I believe that anyone who has gotten to know Zeke will vouch for his level-headedness.

With all due respect to the victims in this case, and in all deference to your “working the streets with both INS and Customs on the border,” adn 32 years on he job, unless you knew Zeke and have specific knowledge that, contrary to his normal calm/reasonable disposition, Zeke developed a mental problem that made him violence prone, then please allow me to suggest that we leave the psychiatric evaluations of the psychological fitness of those involved in this incident to the professional psychiatrists.
Truthful, at the last news conference on Friday, the SAC later corrected the news reports as inaccurate that Garcia was undergoing job counseling. He was requesting an within-SAC transfer.

I think we must be careful not to trivialize things by jumping to unfounded conclusions. For example, it is wild speculation for Truthful to declare, in effect, that when Zeke appeared at Kozak’s office he meant to murder Kozak. How could Truthful know such a thing?

Likewise with Wraith, I would be careful about attributing Zeke opening fire on Kozak to Zeke’s divorce or personal life.

I do not believe it is demented to think that Kozak may have provoked Zeke when over the half the people making comments here report, in effect, that Kozak is an abusive bullying manager, and Zeke Garcia as a nice guy.

Been There on February 18, 2012 at 9:49 pm

Wraith and Truthful,

I have no information that Zeke Garcia was suffering from any disorder whatsoever on the day of this incident. Do you? Or, are you just “off-the-cuff” speculating?

As I have said, I have known Zeke Garcia for my entire 20 year career. In my day to day dealings with Zeke over this time period, Zeke was one of the most level-headed, reasonable guys in the office. Of all of the agents that I have known, Zeke would be the least likeliest that I would consider prone to resorting to violence. To the contrary, Zeke would be the one I would call upon to calm a scene/situation. I believe that anyone who has gotten to know Zeke will vouch for his level-headedness.

With all due respect to the victims in this case, and in all deference to your “working the streets with both INS and Customs on the border,” adn 32 years on he job, unless you knew Zeke and have specific knowledge that, contrary to his normal calm/reasonable disposition, Zeke developed a mental problem that made him violence prone, then please allow me to suggest that we leave the psychiatric evaluations of the psychological fitness of those involved in this incident to the professional psychiatrists.
Truthful, at the last news conference on Friday, the SAC later corrected the news reports as inaccurate that Garcia was undergoing job counseling. He was requesting an within-SAC transfer.

I think we must be careful not to trivialize things by jumping to quickie, unfounded conclusions. For example, it is wild speculation for Truthful to declare, in effect, that when Zeke appeared at Kozak’s office he meant to murder Kozak. How could Truthful know such a thing?

Likewise with Wraith, I would be careful about attributing Zeke opening fire on Kozak to Zeke’s divorce or personal life.

I do not believe it is demented to think that Kozak may have provoked Zeke when over the half the people making comments here report, in effect, that Kozak is an abusive bullying manager, and Zeke Garcia as a nice guy.

Been There on February 18, 2012 at 10:24 pm

Maybe it is time for all of us to stop the speculation and blame and go forward. Zeke’s family, Kevin and Peter will be needing our support as well as the Agency.

Truthful on February 18, 2012 at 10:32 pm

I miss Ziek. He was a good man that made me better. I pray for his family and know that he loved them. Ziek, tonight I will see you.

fr3ed on February 18, 2012 at 11:21 pm

You guys need to insist that real homicide detectives take a look at this investigation. There are way too many scenarios that could have happened there. The official ICE/DHS/FBI story may not add up to the physical evidence at the crime scene.
Maybe there was a physical confrontation, which led to a fist fight, a struggle over a pistol, and the weapon discharged.

Only 3 people know what actually happened in that office and one is dead.

CSI-LA on February 18, 2012 at 11:31 pm

There’s nothing to see here folks . . .

Now move along and get back to work.

Director John Morton on February 19, 2012 at 1:09 am

I worked with zeke in the past and I confirm that he was one of the nicest respectful persons that I worked with a hard worker and team player. When I read the news I couldn’t believe my eyes that he was the shooter it was out of his character. I dont know this kozak but from what ive heard and read about him I have no respect for him and someone needs to put him in his place. He needs to understand that his position gives him no right to disrespect anyone. And I advice anyone that if anyone no matter who it is disrespect u in any manner right there and then u put a stop to it. Let these bully’s know they won’t get away with it. And the higher officials need to put this kozak in his place. There will be a day when kozak will come across the wrong person that has nothing or no one to fear and will straight out tell him” obviously you don’t know who I am but watch the way u talk to me because u need this job more than I do” and he will shit in his pants.

RIP Zeke. You will be missed.

With respect

Respect on February 19, 2012 at 1:21 am

Bring back Marcy Foreman, the ICE Queen.

G on February 19, 2012 at 1:22 am

As a former Border Patrol Agent who was hired during the Von Raab era in 1987 to be a Customs Agent, and retired from ICE in 2008(plus a Military Vet), I have discovered those individuals who constantly bash those Agents who did not come from their background or experience do so out of a complete sense of insecurity. Post Academy OJT Training in Customs sucked for years, especially when compared to the Border Patrol. If you were in an office with a few Mentors, you did okay. If you ran into the typical dog eat dog attitude I ran into in some Customs Offices, you suffered. Post 9/11 resulted in what I believe was a real attempt to codify OJT into some resemblence of uniformity and order. There was dead weight and mismanagement in every agency I worked in, especially those with no checks and balances (I.E. FLEOA, NATA/FATA,Unions) that helped to control horrible supervisors and local Mafia like employee clicks. When I retired, things were looking up. Sounds like politics from D.C. down is once again gutting employee morale and agency efficiency. And, just for info, I was the Training Program Manager/Senior Firearms Instructor for my SAC office when I retired, so I know something about training.

Let us see if anyone in Congress will take the Bull by the Horns (or the gonads) and find out what happened.

mark on February 19, 2012 at 1:27 am

Three can keep a secret if two are dead.

Ender on February 19, 2012 at 3:24 am

The wisest course for any agent in such a situation is to resign. If there are any legal issues that can be pursued against the employer, that should be done before and after leaving the agency. Violence solves nothing, and simply covers up real agency problems with a layer of sympathy for those who are the new victims. When a job even begins to drive you toward some insane act of vengeance, it is just time to leave. Mass resignations and warning applicants of the horrors of agency are appropriate avenues to take against a dysfunctional agency, and not violence.

Worry on February 19, 2012 at 8:09 am

Hey I know…..lets set up new position at ICE HQ….. an SES Advocate for evil piece of shit bosses who harass and abuse employees….. To promote this position – we can set up a 1-800 hotline where these evil piece of shit bosses can call to get guidance and ideas on how to further abuse employees and make sure ICE falls from 222 to 240. I’m sure we can find another attorney out there either from DOJ or Arizona to run it.

belugajedi on February 19, 2012 at 8:14 am

Sorry Been There, there were NOT 2225 INS Special Agents assigned to U.S. field offices making cases. Like I said, regardless of where the figures come from they are misleading. The Headquarters Staff, OIC and AOIC, intel, Frank Johnston’s wife who was at home, the number of working agents was a total guess and that was probably 1200. 2225 is BS and a lazy figure probably taken for gospel by some lazy HR hack from those days. I know who you are and you know that one agent was showing up to pick up a check while being investigated for years and others were in the wind on admin leave. INS was part of the DOJ and their OIG was worse than any criminal organization being investigated. They watched porn movies all day, went to swap meets, targeted agents for retaliation, and made zero arrests that resulted in prosecution, the FBI had to step in and make the cases then for them. There is NO way there were 2225 active, assigned street agents at the of the merger. The LA offices Special Agents’ personnel files were found in the public access hallway of the federal building abandoned after the merger! So like I said, you have to be careful about the statistics, I’m not disputing your premise and my stats on the prosecution success came from the USAO that covered LA, of course the POS LA Times as you put it, could have misquoted him, but they’re lazy and usually take the info verbatim off the online press release.

Figures lie, and liars figure on February 19, 2012 at 10:18 am

One thing seems clear: Kozak was not very mission focussed. Therefore, like the Lesbioic Woman and the Morton moron, his existance endangers ours. If he loses his position directly or indirectly because of this, there is merit in what Zeke did.

skzion on February 19, 2012 at 10:34 am

I read about the intense struggle where GS Woo fought Garcia after the shooting started, then drew his own weapon and fired. He seems like the only ‘hero’ in this situation, by the way.
However I noted in those reports that Woo had been in the counseling session – and then had left the room. He was not there to see/hear what transpired between Garcia and Kozak in those final moments before the shooting started.
What did Kozak/Garcia do?
Was it, as all accounts suggest, Garcia flying into a rage over the somewhat trivial matter of having to move offices?
Or maybe Kozak threatened Garcia? (That is pure speculation- but so is the rage argument, at this point).
Was there no one else in the offices at this point in the day?
It will be interesting what Woo has to say.
From all accounts Garcia was not the type to go into a murderous attack, from his reported demeanor and he knew how to use the courts too.
But Kozak is, by all reports, a bit of a prick. Perhaps he started a fight?
How long was Woo out of the room?

No Joy on February 19, 2012 at 10:57 am

I too find it sad that there are people writing in stating that the shooting was somehow justified because Kozak was supposedly being abusive to Garcia. What Garcia did was wrong and there is no justification for it.

As for Garcia being a nice guy, that may be, but all that means is that you are seeing the person from the outside; one does not know what was going on in his head. It is not infrequent that when people who know a serial killer are interviewed, they start off by responding, “He was the nicest guy in the world…” Garcia got into a scuffle with LAPD in 1999 and was arrested while on duty (Garcia later filed a lawsuit over the arrest but that did not proceed as the Grand Jury found that the LAPD had acted correctly), so maybe Garcia had issues with authority.

Some people have put forth that the situation occurred because Kozak was former Customs and Garcia was former INS. Is the underlying belief then that someone who is former Customs, as a supervisor, cannot tell anything to an individual that was former INS? In what universe would that ever make any sense?

On the other side of the issue, when ICE was formed, and continuing to the present, hiring was at INS standards, which were lower than Customs standards. Having people at the top of the agency hired under the higher employment qualifications are going to cause continuing problems for the agency. The solution would have been to transfer the Customs people to other agencies (and that was at one point being considered, and the agency was DEA and Secret Service) that had the same standards as Customs. To put a point on it: ICE is an agency that is modeled on INS, with a management structure that is mostly comprised of legacy Customs personnel–a faulty design to say the least.

Roy Batty on February 19, 2012 at 11:02 am

Figures lie and liars figure, at leastthe I havehave an officialowl source, not justa the POSwide LA Times!

If you are claiming there were less agents than the officialLegacy numbers, then each INS agent did even more cases, per capita, than their Customs counterparts. But I know for a fact that Customs had its share of POS agents as well. They are not somehow miracuously immune to laziness, as we all have learned when we have to process a load of aliens!

The bottom liine is that the tired Legacy Customs claims that prior to the merger they were/are superior is pure BS. The facts, as supported by DOJ prosecution statistics, are that Legacy INS agents produced at least 2x successful prosecutions, put 2x the the number of felony violators behind bars.

There wa a double standard in operation at SAC/LA. Legacy INS agents had to do all of the, both the INS alien processing work and the Customs policing for a profit work. The Legacy Customs agents usually, bugged out and got to go home early when there was a load of aliens to process.

They used to joke about how they avoided encountering illegals in order to avoid processing. They applied the “Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell” rule.

These are the realities of SAC/LA.

Bottom line is my 20 year long buddy, Zeke Garcia, universally regarded as one of thea nicest guys and most dedicated Legacy INS Special Agents is dead.

On the other hand, Kevin Kozak, universally regarded as one of the biggest pricks and abusive managers in ICE, and ID’dthe as an INS hater,is hospitalized with 6 gunshot wounds.

I don’t care if you know who I am. Is that supposed to be a threat of exposure?

Been There on February 19, 2012 at 11:08 am

Senior Supervisory Special Agent? Are you sure about that? Not an ICE title. Do you mean Group Supervisor?

Federale on February 19, 2012 at 12:08 pm

It is very interesting to see the repeated, default fallback postion of the Legacy Customs commentors to put down and demean the INS as inferior agents.

As demonstrated by these repeated responses and comments by Legacy Customs writers, this hateful undercurrent that Legacy INS haters continue to foster in ICE, is alive and well and, thanks to the INS Haters, continues to thrive in ICE, day in/day out to the present.

Kozak has been ID’d, above, as an INS hater.

Again, no one is saying tht attmepted murder is justified, but sometimes with enough provocation and utterance of “fighting words” tempers can flare.

Been There on February 19, 2012 at 12:10 pm

“C: Um, thanks for the “just a friendly shoulder to cry on” dig, but in fact the mainstream major media DO in fact read this site, which is why my work is constantly cited and/or outright stolen. I’ve broken major stories here. ”

True that. Debbie’s news and investigative reporting is second to none. If you don’t get your news first from Debbie, you’re not only doing yourself a disservice, but you’re also getting lies, half-truths and whitewash jobs about the events by “mainstream” sites. The so-called stream in that moniker is filled with human waste. Debbie reports it as it actually is.

DS_ROCKS! on February 19, 2012 at 12:24 pm

In case some have forgotten, this forum is not ICE ccmail. It is run by a Debbie Schlussel, a Conservative political commentator, radio talk show host, columnist, and attorney.

If you cannot stand seeing the complete, raw, unvarnished truth, then allow me to suggest that you go back to grazing on the bland politically correct/management laundered fodder of your work ccmail and Virtual University.

Again I am very thankful to all of these demeaning, hateful, anti-INS comments obvious ly made by Legacy Customs personnel.

You have clearly proven my point of the thriving existence of an anti-INS culture within ICE. IMO an anti-INS culture was countenanced and even fostered by Kozak in SAC/LA.

I shall leave it to the investigators of this incident to determine if this anti-INS bias adversely affected Zeke Garcia’s career advancement and his relationship with his superiors.

Been There on February 19, 2012 at 12:39 pm

I read the comments so far, and it is fascinating. Workplace violence is seldom as simple as a lunatic on a shooting spree. There is always a back-story that adds context to the desperate act. I agree that there needs to be a separate inquiry, but I know that this entire incident will be white-washed from the media. Thanks for the post DS.

fred on February 19, 2012 at 12:42 pm

Amen, DS_ROCKS!

JeffE on February 19, 2012 at 12:47 pm

Debbie

Please make sure this goes to the press and to our president because big changes need to follow this. If we do anything now it will get worse

Respect on February 19, 2012 at 12:51 pm

So far this article that DS wrote on friday afternoon has recieved about 119 comments and so far til this point, all of the messages are respectful, rational, etc. No personal attacks, no ad homiemin attacks, no attack the messenger (Debbie Schlussel herself), and ATJ (all that jazz), and I agree with both DS and all of the folks who commented here already, so no need for me to do alot of commenting and use up room on this thread!

And Respect, I agree with you sir or maam, this news has to be forwarded to the MSM and also to the president so atleast he’ll do something right for a change and put away his far-left marxist politics.

“A nation is defined by its borders, language & culture!”

Sean R. on February 19, 2012 at 1:16 pm

I guess the legacy Customs agents were useless on INS type cases because they weren’t required to be fluent in Spanish(oh,yeah,not much of a big deal,right?)while it would seem to be pretty easy to train a legacy INS agent to recognize counterfeit handbags or kiddie porn.
The few times I had to work with Customs agents it seemed that making arests weren’t a routine day in/day out matter for them.
the jobs were just so different.I cannot imagine what retarded asshole invented ICE-it’s like having doctors and poets working together-both have legit functions,they just have little in common.

Joe on February 19, 2012 at 1:24 pm

There is no justification for this shooting, it is incomprehensible, and unprecedented, with all the experience this agent Garcia is claimed to have had, and attaining the rank of GS, he should have been totally aware of how the system works. And why the “shoot” the messenger? The SAC had the final decision, and he is legacy INS. Garcia as a GS must have also given “counseling” sessions to his subordinates. How would he feel about someone going off on him? It is just absurd and serves as an indictment of the abusive nature of most of the DHS/ICE/HSI agency. Now, let’s be clear because I hear a lot of “agents” posting on here. By agents I mean criminal investigators, from HSI, of which I have knowledge of.

If the DHS/ICE/HSI brass reads this blog as claimed, then here is something that you must face even if it is something you don’t like: Dismantle the mechanism that is in place that allows the Clowns to fuck with the employees just because they feel like it. Better yet dismantle the system that is in place that allows such incompetent, inexperienced Clowns to flourish and get promoted. A psychological personality test that weeds out the sadistic, passive aggressive psychopaths should be a requirement of the promotion, and then a year “probationary” period. Start hiring and promoting law enforcement professionals. Get an outside, unbiased agency or organization that does the promotional selections with no input from the POS SACs or their POS cronies; this is major because too many times the incompetent, ignorant, inexperienced, unintelligible, barely a U.S. citizen Clowns get selected because someone in management “likes” them, if you read all of the job descriptions there is nothing in there that says that once you qualify you must also be well liked by the asses you kissed in order to get selected/promoted, and get rid of that bullshit “for the good of the service” it’s a catch all used to screw with agents/employees.

These few simple steps will go a long way in improving the agency.

And, keep reading this blog, it has its finger on the pulse of what is going on at the DHS SAC offices (and it is not pretty).

QTD on February 19, 2012 at 1:28 pm

“We can skip all of the demeaning “INS is inferior” Legacy Customs talk. We have already shown that it is just more distorted Legacy Customs bullshit.”

Really? Just look at the LA/Long Beach in the past couple of years. The SAC & DSAC were having an affair and misappropriating government funds. Both are legacy INS. A retired ASAC was just convicted for fraud and false statements. He is Legacy INS. Another ASAC is on admin leave for falsifying his education. Legacy INS. Garcia and another INS agent refused to cooperate with LAPD back in the 90s and ended up filing a lawsuit. The lawsuit was a joke and was summarily dismissed. Years later, Garcia tries to kill the DSAC. The other INS agent who was a party in the lawsuit? Terminated for using drugs with gang members.

Yeah – it’s bullshit alright.

jim davis on February 19, 2012 at 1:29 pm

While you are at add the 2 Legacy Customs agents who perjured themselves in concocting the case against Johnston. Motion for Dismissal pendiing…

Very convenient how you had forgotten about that. Every agency has it’s internal affairs, personnel problems.

The fact remains that prior to the merger of INS/Customs, at least 2002x fewer INS agents had completed 2x the number of successful criminal prosecutions, with less cases declined than Customs.

In case in yourthe zeal to expose internal affairsaffairs cases, you also forgot why we are here. We are actually in the business of Federal Law Enforcement. The success of most law enforcement agencies is not measuredmacho in how many of its own employees it apprehends. And Customs has plenty…

Instead success is measured by the number of criminal apprehensions and prosecutions it completes; how many felony violators it puts behind bars,

According to this meaure INS agents were more than twice as productive and successful than Customs agents – period.

Hopefully we can refocus Legacy Customsagents agents from this default fallback position of perpetuating demeaning anti-INS bullshit, to respect for INS superior dedication as reflected by far superior performance and productivity.

Don’t you gethave it? The gratuitous anti-INS hater bs has to stop. Besides being bullshit, it’s counter productive and adversarial.

Been There on February 19, 2012 at 2:18 pm

No jim davis, we can’t skip all the INS is inferior” talk by former Customs. I liked the Customs crowd and volunteered to go work in the Long Beach office. My first Customs coworker had just come off a year of leave due to putting a gun in her mouth at work. She quickly attached herself to the GS and ran off screwing him until 11 am each morning when they would show together.

You point about the INS legacy management problems is a good one but why are they on trial and Frankie the FIg in Tampa gets to retire after fondling his balls in front of a teenage girl at a mall all this caught on video? To even allude that Customs was somehow void of problem agents and management is ignorant and I’m glad you are retired or hope so at least.

God bless all of you that hung up your hat while you could.

Ben Dover on February 19, 2012 at 2:21 pm

Been there – you are completely wrong. Here is the LA Times story regarding Johnston http://articles.latimes.com/2011/dec/14/local/la-me-ice-agent-trial-20111214. Dismissal is not pending. Johnston was convicted. I understand that you are sticking up for the INS, but, you should attempt to be truthful.

Ben Dover – are we going to use anecdotal evidence now? How about all the INS agents that quit after the merger because they weren’t accustomed to being required to work full days? That’s an absolute fact.

Jim Davis on February 19, 2012 at 2:56 pm

U have government officials that takt there position for granted in every agency. They need to be careful and be thankful for what they have because soon it will all be taken away weather ur dirty or just a big asshole

Respect on February 19, 2012 at 3:29 pm

This would have all been a non issue now if the INS had done the right thing back in 1999 and fired Garcia for getting into a fight with LAPD.

King David on February 19, 2012 at 3:51 pm

Not a fight. They were on undercover surveillance in the Rampart Division. LAPD refused to acknowledge their badges/credentials and forced them out of their Govt car, proned them out and cuffed them, injuring Zeke’s shoulder in the process. The case took years and was not as cut and dry or “summarily dismissed” as claimed.

Been There on February 19, 2012 at 4:02 pm

When Woo left the room, what did Garcia say to Kozak? Was he going to expose something Kozak is involved in? Did Kozak threaten Garcia, and Garcia did what he did? I don’t think we will ever know the answers to those questions.

I know Senior HSI Managers read this. I do not condone what he did, I just hope a full outside investigation is done. I hope they interview every agent in that office to get a clear idea of how Kozak and Garcia were.

There are no heroes from last week…we all lost the fight!

East Side ICE on February 19, 2012 at 4:20 pm

Imo, as afar as has been revealed, Woo is a hero. Anyone who goes to the sound of gunfire to engage a shooter to save another… But if I know Woo, he would never feel right about the outcome or about accepting any congratulations.So you are right, everyone lost.

Been There on February 19, 2012 at 4:52 pm

Hopefully one of the shots hit something important.

pat on February 19, 2012 at 5:11 pm