ARIZONA PINAL COUNTY SHERIFF PAUL BABEU FACES INCREASING QUESTIONS OVER WHETHER THE SHOOTING OF DEPUTY LOUIE PUROLL, ALLEGEDLY BY MEXICAN NARCOS, WAS A HOAX AND SELF-INFLICTED GUNSHOT WOUND.

Sheriff Paul Babeu, Pinal County’s top lawman who gained fame campaigning for John McCain, appearing as a guest on White Supremacist radio, allying himself with Sheriff Joe Arpaio of neighboring Maricopa County,  and standing by his deputy Louie Puroll’s account that he was shot by Sinaloan accented AK-47-toting pot-carrying Mexican narcos, has now ordered the Puroll shooting investigation re-opened. That’s due to a media firestorm questioning the shooting as a hoax  after the Phoenix New Times sent photos of the slight wound suffered by the deputy to forensic experts who said the shots were fired at close range. I have written about the shooting here, here and here.

Now the Arizona Department of Public Safety is distancing itself from the original investigation. See this excellent report by a Tucson TV station.