An illegal immigrant from Mexico was sentenced to 51 years in prison for wounding two sheriff’s deputies in a shootout

Gary Grado:

Prosecutors sought a 63-year sentence for Jorge Guerra-Vargas, who said in Maricopa County Superior Court that he fired on a sevenmember Special Weapons and Tactics team not knowing they were cops.

"I thought they were thieves. I was scared," Vargas said through an interpreter.

Vargas pleaded guilty May 2 to three counts of aggravated assault.

A sheriff’s SWAT unit was serving a search warrant Dec. 16 at a trailer home in a county island in Mesa when Vargas opened fire with a 9 mm handgun after the unit busted in and threw open a curtain used as a room divider.

Sean Pearce, son of Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, was shot in the stomach and Lew Argetsinger was shot in the hand. Rod Jackson was shot in the chest, but his body armor and a magazine of ammunition stopped the bullet.

Long term asked for SWAT team shooter