NYC Indymedia volunteer Brad Will killed in attack by Paramilitaries in Oaxaca

Oct. 27th: A shooting occurred today in Oaxaca City, Mexico, leaving New York City Indymedia journalist Bradley Will (William Bradley Roland) dead. He had been shot in the chest. He died before reaching the hospital, according to La Jornada. The assassin was identified from videographers’ tapes from the scene. A photographer from the newspaper Milenio Diario, who was at Will’s side, was injured by a gunshot to his foot.

Radio APPO, radio station of the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca, is reporting truckloads of armed paramilitaries entering the city. APPO is calling for people to reinforce the thousands of barricades that have been constructed for months as part of the statewide teachers’ strike and popular uprising that has demanded the removal of PRI governor Ulisis Ortiz Ruiz.

APPO reported that schoolteacher Emilio Alfonso Fabián died from three bullet wounds after an attack by shooters for Ulises Ruiz Ortiz outside the state government palace. Subcomandante Marcos issued a call for people all over the world to unite and to demand justice for Brad Will.

Narco News: Brad Will, New York Documentary Filmmaker and Indymedia Reporter, Assassinated by Pro-Government Gunshot in Oaxaca While Reporting the Story

Reports en español: 1 | 2 | English: 1 | 2

source: https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/10/27/18323888.php

more photos posted on Indymedia

According to the mexican newspaper El Universal (www.eluniversal.com.mx), the guys with red shirts are a paramilitary group that attacked the members of the APPO (social movement of Oaxaca) and journalists.

Portrait Brad in zocalo Oaxaca/Mexico 2 days ago
by Hinrich Schultze

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18 Comments

  1. From Nancie Davies in Oaxaca:

    What I have heard up to 8:00 PM from Radio Planton

    man abducted by police at noon in Cinco Señores, taken to prison in Tlocolula

    student shot in arm on barricade

    three dead:
    teacher
    indymedia reporter, from USA, shot dead, confirmed
    photographer from Milenio – ?

    23 wounded at San Bartolo Coyotepec, and 3 dead, who I think are those named above. (Also several wounded by sticks and rocks)

    all shot by ministerial police or others in service of government

    a call is out for flashlights, drinking water, food, reinforcements.

  2. THIS IS WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR ABOUT BRAD FROM A PERSON WHO WAS THERE WITH HIM:

    – He was at the Santa Lucia Barricade

    – He was shot from a distance of 30-40 meters right in the pit of the stomach

    – They say it was urban paramilitary priistas in plain clothes who shot him

    – People then pulled him away to safety; its confirmed that he’s dead; his body is at the red cross in oaxaca

    – 3 additional dead (4 total); 1 member of radio universidad was injured, he went to the hospital in a volkswagen cuz no ambulances would come

    source: http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2006/10/77757.html

  3. quick translation

    Matan a documentalista de EU en Oaxaca; un fotógrafo herido
    https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/10/27/18323886.php
    via La Jornada On Line

    Oct 27, 2006 10:18PM EDT
    una companera

    An American documentary maker killed in Oaxaca; a photographer injured

    A gunfight that occurred in the municipality of Calicante caused the death of American documentary maker Brat Will, of Washington Indymedia, who received a shot to the chest. A photographer from the newspaper Milenio Diario, Oswaldo Ramirez, was injured with a shot in the foot, stated the web edition of the paper.

    The confrontation occurred when groups of supposed white guards, according to the report of Radio Formula, joined the brigadistas that defended the barricades.

    The leader of APPO, Flavio Sosa, asked for the urgent intervention of the federal government in this municipality, because he said that groups in the service of the PRI mayor are frightening the brigidistas that are guarding the barricades with their weapons. “We only have stones and they have firearms” he said.

    According to early reports, a gunfight happened in Calicante and apart from the dead journalists and injured photographer, three more people were injured.

    The reporter was injured in the stomach, and died before arriving at a hospital.

    Especially in Calicante as in the municipality of San Antonio, both conurbados (like?) the capital, prevails an atmosphere of tension, because both the groups of appistas that guard the barricades and the supposed white guards are separated by a hundred meters and run the risk of a major confrontation.

    The brigadistas remain squatted across the barricades and according to reports, one of them was injured without the possibility of being moved to a center of attention.

    source: http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2006/10/77757.html

  4. One of Brad’s Last Dispatches from Oaxaca

    early dawn, oct16

    yesterday i went for a walk with the good people of oaxaca — was walking all day really — in the afternoon they showed me where the bullets hit the wall — they numbered the ones they could reach — it reminded me of the doorway of amadou diallos home — but here the grafitti was there before the shooting began — one bullet they didnt number was still in his head — he was 41 years old — alejandro garcia hernandez — at the neighborhood barricade every night — that night he came out to join his wife and sons to let an ambulance through — then a pickup tried to follow — he took their bullet when he told them they could not pass — they never did — these military men in civilian dress shot their way out of there

    a young man who wanted to only be called marco was with them when the shooting happened — a bullet passed through his shoulder — he was clearly in shock when we met — 19 years old — said he hadnt told his parents yet — said he had been at the barricade every night — said he was going back as soon as the wound closed — absolutely

    just days before there was a delegation of senators visiting to determine the ungovernability of the state — they got a taste — the call went out to shut down the rest of the government — dozens went walking out of the zocalo city center with big sticks and a box full of spray paint — they took control of 3 city buses and went around the city all morning visiting local government buildings and informing them that that they were closed — and we appreciate your voluntary cooperation — and they filed out preturbed but still getting paid — shut — as they pulled away from the last stop 3 gunmen came out and started shooting — 2 buses had already pulled away — mayhem — 10 minute battle with stones and slingshots and screaming — one headwound — another through the leg — made their way to the hospital while the fighting continued — shout out on the radio and people came from all parts — the gunmen were around the side of the building — they got away — they were inside — no one sure — watchful — undercover police were reported lurking around the hospital and folks went running to stand watch over the wounded

    what can you say about this movement — this revolutionary moment — you know it is building, growing, shaping — you can feel it — trying desperately for a direct democracy — in november appo will have a state wide conference for the formation of a state wide assemblea estatal del pueblo de oaxaca (aepo) — now there are 11 of 33 states in mexico that have declared formation of assemblea populares like appo — and on la otra lado in the usa a few — the marines have returned to sea even though the federal police who ravaged atenco remain close by — the new encampment in mexico has begun a hunger strike — the senate can expell URO — whats next nobodies sure — it is a point of light pressed through glass — ready to burn or show the way — it is clear that this is more than a strike, more than expulsion of a governor, more than a blockade, more than a coalition of fragments — it is a genuine peoples revolt — and after decades of pri rule by bribe, fraud, and bullet the people are tired — they call him the tyrant — they talk of destroying this authoritarianism — you cannot mistake the whisper of the lancandon jungle in the streets — in every street corner deciding together to hold — you see it their faces — indigenous, women, children — so brave — watchful at night — proud and resolute

    went walking back from alejandros barricade with a group of supporters who came from an outlying district a half hour away — went walking with angry folk on their way to the morgue — went inside and saw him — havent seen too many bodies in my life — eats you up — a stack of nameless corpes in the corner — about the number who had died — no refrigeration — the smell — they had to open his skull to pull the bullet out — walked back with him and his people

    and now alejandro waits in the zocalo — like the others at their plantones — hes waiting for an impasse, a change, an exit, a way forward, a way out, a solution — waiting for the earth to shift and open — waiting for november when he can sit with his loved ones on the day of the dead and share food and drink and a song — waiting for the plaza to turn itself over to him and burst — he will only wait until morning but tonight he is waiting for the governor and his lot to never come back — one more death — one more martyr in a dirty war — one more time to cry and hurt — one more time to know power and its ugly head — one more bullet cracks the night — one more night at the barricades — some keep the fires — others curl up and sleep — but all of them are with him as he rests one last night at his watch

    more info:
    http://narconews.com/Issue43/article2180.html
    mexico.indymedia.org/tiki-index.php?page=DesalojoOaxaca
    oaxacalibre.org/libertad/
    http://elenemigocomun.net/
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/oaxacastudyactiongroup/messages

    —

    source: http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2006/10/77343.shtml

  5. Brad Will, New York Documentary Filmmaker and Indymedia Reporter, Assassinated by Pro-Government Gunshot in Oaxaca While Reporting the Story
    Photographer Oswaldo Ramirez of the Daily Milenio Wounded in Attack by Shooters for Ulises Ruiz Ortiz in Santa Lucia El Camino

    By Al Giordano
    The Other Journalism with the Other Campaign in Chihuahua

    October 27, 2006
    http://narconews.com/Issue43/article2223.html

  8. friends in NYC wrote this about him:
    Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2006 23:20:05 -0400
    Subject: friend and companero brad was killed

    Our friend, brother, and companero, Brad Will was killed today by paramilitaries in Oxaca Mexico.

    Brad has been an inspiring and passionate militant, joining struggles all over the world, from land occupations in the Pacific North West of the US, to direct actions against global capital, to rebellions in Argentina, land occupations in Brazil, and anti-privatization struggles in Bolivia. Brad was always a part of whatever he was in. He was always with people, not organizing them. He taught me, and so many others so much through example. He will be missed in so many ways.

    Brad was a part of our communities. We should remember him with the love and affection that he showed, and we feel. We should also carry
    on with direct action to stop those that are trying to stop social creation, in the US, Mexico, Argentina, and the globe.

    brad Presente!
    brad presente!
    brad Presente!

  9. Thanks for this web site with ongoing information of what is happening, from the past and present.

    Brad was a great singer, gardener, writer, advocate, wiht a pure heart and good intentions on all his efforts, always seeking the common ground, to share and work together.

    He will continue to be an inspiration.

  10. Local Police Identified as Killers
    by emilyn
    Saturday Oct 28th, 2006 8:20 AM
    I´m in oaxaca, brad lived with me. This morning, residents of the colonia where brad was killed identified from fotos the faces of the assasins as belonging to local police forces. local police are under the direct jurisdiction of the governor of the state, Ulises Ruiz Ortiz. He is responsable for this death.

    source: https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/10/27/18323891.php?show_comments=1#18324067

  13. Name of Barricade in Oaxaca changed to “La Barricada Brad”

    October 31st, 2006 – Today, in the barrio of Santa Lucia del Camino in the city Oacaxa, place where Indymedia reporter Brad Will had been shot and killed last Friday afternoon, resisters and defenders of that barricade created a small shine in memeory of their fallen American friend, and renamed the barricade “La Barricade Brad”.

    source: http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2006/11/78358.html

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