PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A Mexican national charged with aggravated murder in the shooting deaths of three people at a rural Oregon blueberry farm had been deported six times, most recently in 2013, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Bonifacio Oseguera-Gonzalez, 29, has no significant prior criminal convictions, but ICE asked Oregon authorities to turn him over to them if he’s released from custody in the current case, the agency said in a statement to The Associated Press on Friday.
Oseguera-Gonzalez pleaded not guilty to three counts of aggravated murder and one count of attempted murder Tuesday in Marion County Superior Court.
His attorney, Deborah Burdzik, did not immediately return a call seeking comment about his immigration status.
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump tweeted about the case Friday, saying the suspect “should have never been here.”
Two men who lived at the blueberry farm in the Willamette Valley town of Woodburn, in northwest Oregon, died at the scene of Monday’s shooting. The third victim, the girlfriend of another resident who was not home at the time, was pronounced dead at a hospital.
A third man was seriously wounded but survived and is able to speak with investigators.
The Oregon State Police arrested Oseguera-Gonzalez a few hours later on Interstate 84 in the Columbia River Gorge, about 100 miles northeast of Woodburn.
He acknowledged to authorities in an interview that he shot four people, according to a probable cause statement.
The victims were identified as Ruben Rigoberto-Reyes, 60; Edmundo Amaro-Bajonero, 26; and Katie Gildersleeve, 30, of Logsden.
Authorities have released few details about the case, including the relationship between Oseguera-Gonzalez and the victims, and have declined to specify a motive.
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