Ride the Lightning

FBI Agent Shoots Wife, Calls 911: Authorities Respond 2000 Miles Away

May 8, 2013

Our electronic world causes all kinds of mishaps. You may have read a story about the FBI agent in Virginia who fatally shot his estranged wife several times last month. While the case had many peculiarities, the one that intrigued me was the fact that Arthur Gonzales told the 911 operator to send an ambulance and deputies to his home on Alderwood Drive in Stafford, VA.

However, an alert went out to the address which seemed to be the origin of the call, the 1800 block of Maverick Trail in Las Cruces, NM. After several deputies, firefighters and medical personnel arrived on the scene, they found out that the real emergency was in Virginia.

Gonzales had moved from New Mexico to Virginia and taken his VoIP routers with him – the routers allow users to connect landline telephones through an Internet service provider. However, he never told the service provider that he had moved.

Maybe this all makes sense in the context of an agent who shot and killed his wife after saying "I had to shoot her . . . She cut me on the arm." They don't teach FBI agents to shoot without killing?

But then, it has been a "What do I know?" kind of week.

Hat tip to Deb Matthews.