Exorcism Ends In Deadly Stun-Gun Struggle
Phoenix Man Accused Of Choking 3-Year-Old Granddaughter Dies After Fight With Police
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The girl is expected to recover physically and police are investigating "other possible abuses," said Sgt. Joel Tranter, a Phoenix police spokesman. Tranter declined to specify the nature of the possible abuse.
The man died after what Phoenix police described Sunday as a struggle in a house where officers went in response to a report of an exorcism being conducted on a young child.
Officers arrived at the house on Saturday in response to a check-welfare call from a relative of the family that lived there and entered when they heard screaming from a bedroom, Tranter said.
A bed was pushed up against the bedroom door but officers were able to push it open a few inches, allowing one to peer inside and see that 49-year-old Ronald Marquez was clutching his bloodied granddaughter, who was crying in pain, screaming and gasping as Marquez choked her, Tranter said.
A bloody, naked 19-year-old woman who was determined to be Marquez's daughter and the girl's mother also was in the room, chanting "something that was religious in nature," the spokesman said.
The officers then were able to force open the door enough for one to enter, leading to a struggle in which the officer used a Taser stun gun as he tried to free the girl, Tranter said.
After the initial stun had no visible effect on Marquez, a second officer also squeezed into the room and Marquez was stunned a second time, allowing one of the officers to free the girl and pass her out the door to the relative, Tranter said.
Marquez was placed in handcuffs after a struggle with police and he initially appeared normal but then was observed not breathing, Tranter said.
Efforts by the officers and Fire Department personnel to revive him failed, and he was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Cause of death was not immediately known and autopsy results probably will not be available for several weeks, Tranter said.
With one arm, Marquez held his granddaughter in a headlock, while squeezing her torso with his other arm, police told the Arizona Republic.
"It's very bizarre, (a) very unusual and pretty horrific situation this young child was involved in," Tranter told the newspaper.
Tranter said the investigation was continuing but that the relative who called police said there also had been an exorcism attempted Thursday.
"The purpose was to release demons from this very young child," Tranter told The Associated Press.
The spokesman said the 3-year-old girl and her mother were hospitalized for treatment of various injuries. He declined to identify either by name but said they lived in the house with Marquez.
Tranter said the girl had bruises and other undisclosed injuries, while the woman had a cut lip and facial lacerations.
The mother was not immediately arrested, Tranter said. "We will be looking at criminal charges at her."
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.



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See all 70 CommentsPosted by mitchschultz at 08:41 AM : Jul 30, 2007
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Wonder why god let it happen in the first place?
God didn't let her live any more than he let this happen.
People who believe in exorcism are no different from those who believe in miracles.
The each believe that their %u201Cgod%u201D solves their problems for them whish is nothing less than being unable or unwilling to accept responsibility for their own life and needing someone or some %u201Cthing%u201D (god) to do the hard work for them.
Posted by rfcnj68
Save everyone? Huh?? From What? Do you mean from religious extremists? From Religion based crusades led to wipe out everyone who does not believe in your particular god? People like Jim Jones? Science has come up with an answer. It's called sterilization.
Again religion KILLS, another right winger gone haywire over the bibull.
www.evilbible.com
- Posted by rfcnj68 at 09:25 AM : Jul 30, 2007
Because unlike RELIGION, SCIENCE does not claim the mantles of infallibility, omniscience and omnipotence.
The "faith" I may put in science is not the "faith" Tammy Faye Bakker put in God. These are two separate meanings of that word.
Christopher Hitchens makes this point when he says that the teachings of Socrates stand on their own merits and could not be weakened even if it turned out that so such man actually existed, whereas the teachings of religious figures collpase when the historical facts believed about their personal lives are shown to be fictitious.
Was this supposed to catch the demons off gaurd, Or is dad messing with the daughter and her child. This whole story doesn't smell right to me. People just keep getting more weird in this world every day.
Good. I hope he suffered too.
I am one of those people that do not believe in this kind of thing but those who do should take the child to a professional and that is the way it is.
I feel so badly for the little child because now she marred for life what a horrible thing that child went through she doesn't understand what she did wrong she is just a baby.
This man didn't even realize that the cops were there or they used a stun gun on him. He was so far gone he wasn't aware at all.
MAY GOD BE WITH CHILD NOW AND FOREVER AS I AM SURE HE WILL BE THERE FOR HER ALWAYS!!!
-- Demosthenes (384-322 BCE)
Posted by mitchschultz at 08:41 AM : Jul 30, 2007
Ask God why the psychosis of seeing demons in a 3-yr-old child was provoked by a religion based in His name. What do you think God would answer?
"Among the sayings and discourses imputed to him [Jesus] by his biographers, I find many passages of fine imagination, correct morality, and of the most lovely benevolence; and others again of so much ignorance, so much absurdity, so much untruth, charlatanism, and imposture, as to pronounce it impossible that such contradictions should have proceeded from the same being."
- Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Short (April 13, 1820)
Those who jump to conclusions (Aassume) all too often wind up landing on their a s s.
First, you assume that I am an atheist. Wrong. Christians believe, earth and man had to have come from somewhere, so god created us.
When asked where did god come from they say, %u201Cgod has always been here%u201D.
Until we can say where god came from, I can%u2019t fully believe this theory.
Second, you assume that I believe ONLY in evolution, wrong again. Atheists have the same problem. They cannot say where WE came from or how we got here so they, also, have only opinions/faith.
I am an agnostic, honest enough to admit that the evolution of the human mind has a ways to go before we know for sure.
Third, that I have faith only in scientists. This is only partially correct. It has nothing to do with %u201Cfaith%u201D per se.
I do however, recognize and accept many things scientists have discovered/uncovered.
For instance, if not for scientific evolution you and I would not be posting here, we would still be drawing pictures on cave walls and using sign language for communication.
I do however, believe that God/nature has given all life forms on earth a tremendous amount of unexplained intelligence/capabilities at time of birth, including a sense of right and wrong.
I also believe that even if there was a divine creator he/it gave us everything we need at birth to live our lives and we are SOLELY responsible for what we do..
Posted by snglwytfemal at 10:24 AM : Jul 30, 2007
From the report, there was likely other abuse, as well as another attempted exorcism. So, does God not answer prayers until there are a certain number of spiritual 911 calls, so to speak?
How horrific, that the timely intervention of professionals saving this girl's life is interpreted as "God answered her prayers."
Posted by hungry1968 at 10:14 AM : Jul 30, 2007
A hearty Amen to that!
______________________
what about the mother? Was she capable of protecting her daughter or was she a pawn also?
Posted by ozone-baby at 09:15 AM : Jul 30, 2007
The mother is 19, which means she was a tender 16 when she gave birth. Likely she was taught that her child was demon-possessed because she'd sinned by giving birth out of wedlock, or some other similar notion.
- Posted by carolrhill at 10:19 AM : Jul 30, 2007
"A professional? Like on the movie "exorcist"?
- Posted by rcbraden at 10:23 AM : Jul 30, 2007
Yes, only professional Hollywood actors should attempt this.
That Linda Blair 360 degree head rotation can be very dangerous if amateurs try it at home.
Heck, if these religious wing-nuts are going to cause a stir, then why not allow the rest of us to watch and be entertained!
- Posted by USAyesterday at 10:44 AM : Jul 30, 2007
Our far-seeing Commander in Chief had situations like this in mind when he called on Congress for enhanced surveillance laws.
How the devil else could the nation be aware of this ?
Clear thinking people: "Terrible twos/threes"
I wish nut cases like this would instinctively kill themselves before hurting others.
co-discoverers of the structure of the DNA molecule, did more to help their fellow men and women than all the mythologizing religious figures put together.
Crick and Watson were humanists and atheists.
This particular exhibition and its 'high visibility' has garnered significant public attention. It's easy to understand why. The details of the events are as sensational and lurid as a suicide bombing and the epitome of fanaticism. In the absence of proof to confirm or contradict his claims, a presumptuous 49 year old grandfather declares a 3 year old child possessed by 'demons', and then himself seizes her, puts her in a headlock, squeezes her, chokes her, and otherwise exploits and takes advantage of her for the sake of his religion, putting her life at risk and ending his own in the process. And we who are privvy to the performance are shocked and awed by the spectacle.
Sound familiar?
The good news is that this crazy fruitcake won't be strangling any more little girls.
"If you believe in evolution why has your science not come up with away to save everyone"
What does that even mean? I remember I had a neighbor who would give me sermons while I was watering my garden (he was a born again Christian) ... He would talk about how, in his past, he was into drugs and alcohol and then he "was saved" and no longer does drugs and alcohol ... But I wanted to tell him "I don't drink and I don't do drugs, and, unlike you, I don't smoke like a chimney. Doesn't that mean I'm more 'saved' than you?" -- But I was too polite to of course.
Prayer has never helped an amputee to grow a new leg.
"How horrific, that the timely intervention of professionals saving this girl's life is interpreted as "God answered her prayers.""
Religious wacko's. "UP to no Good!"
There is no God and no devil,
No demons or angles.
You have been suckered and indocturnated if you believe in that fantasy.
Check out evilbible.com
But - while I'm very much not religious - while they called it an exorcism, that doesn't mean this is really about religion, any more than when a gang member dies being beat into the gang, it's really about brotherly bonding.
[Isaiah 45:7 "I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things."
John 1:3 "Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made."]
So to be grateful to someone for saving you from the dangers he sent your way, is to fall for a very old scam.
In modern prisons, predators use this scam when they "protect" new inmates from other convicts, after first hiring those convicts to frighten the "new fish."
Her prayers were ignored, until a neighbor finally called the police. If there's a god, he's not answering prayers, he's very hands off.
No demons or angles.
You have been suckered and indocturnated if you believe in that fantasy.
Posted by adventurepa at 01:49 PM : Jul 30, 2007
Amen.
God knew before the creation of the world that this tragic incident would occur.
So he whispered into some wise inventor's ear, the idea of the "stun gun."
And it was ready just in time.
For the Lord helps those who work in mysterious ways.
It doesn't make me believe, of course - but then that's my choice and does no harm to you. To me - I've seen plenty of cases where the doctors prepare the family for the last night - just in case, because if it was, and they didn't tell the family that it could be, that'd be horrible. Your mother getting sick - she's been by you, in a hospital, no doubt not getting enough sleep, enough food, and tons of stress weakening her immune system - her getting sick isn't a surprise either. Your fever breaking - that's kinda how it happens - your body finally turns the corner on fighting the disease, figures out how to kill it, and does so.
But I think the thing is that prayer comes up when people try to say this was all God - and if you say that God decided to save her, then he also decided to not save her earlier, before she'd been hurt so many times. You can't have it both ways.
Posted by r_bayless at 02:07 PM : Jul 30, 2007
Or that he successfully "exorcised" the demon out of the child and into himself, which is why he was trying to kill her.......or some such other religious bullsh*it.....it all reads like a bad movie script....
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