Migrant shot dead by Arizona rancher held on $1M for murder charge was deported several times before: report. George Alan Kelly is charged with the murder of a man tentatively identified as Mexican migrant Gabriel Cuen-Butimea.
A migrant, who was allegedly shot and killed by an elderly Arizona rancher whom a judge ordered held on $1 million bail despite pleas that his wife is left alone on their property near the U.S.-Mexico border, had been deported several times before the deadly encounter, according to records obtained by the Daily Mail.
George Alan Kelly, 73, was charged with first-degree murder in connection to the shooting of a man authorities believe to be 48-year-old Gabriel Cuen-Butimea, based on the Mexican voter registration card he carried. The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office in Nogales, Arizona, said Cuen-Butimea’s body was found with one gunshot wound about 100 to 150 yards from Kelly’s home on Jan. 30.
The sheriff’s office confirmed Monday that Kelly had been arrested last week.
The shooting reportedly happened on Kelly’s Vermilion Mountain Ranch in Kino Springs.
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According to Nogales International, Kelly pleaded with a judge to reduce his $1 million bail because his wife is now left to fend for herself on the cattle ranch they share. The judge declined Kelly’s request.
“She’s there by herself,” Kelly reportedly said at a court hearing. “Nobody to take care of her, the livestock or the ranch. And I’m not going anywhere. I can’t come up with a million dollars.”
“Federal court records show Cuen-Butimea has had a history of illegal border crossings and deportations in and around Nogales, with the most recent documented case in 2016,” the Daily Mail reported. Fox News Digital reached out to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office Thursday to confirm those records, but did not immediately hear back before publication.
The Mail reported that Santa Cruz Chief Deputy Gerardo Castillo declined to comment on Cuen-Butimea’s immigration status, claiming that it has not yet been confirmed.