Future Cop Ryan O'Shea Was Killed by a Wrong-Way Illegal Alien DHS Ordered Removed in 2013

Ryan O'Shea was 21, the captain of his college hockey team, and planning to become a police officer after graduation. On the night of Oct. 16, he was driving back to campus after a game when a pickup truck came at him head-on in his own lane on Interstate 91 in North Haven, Conn.

The driver of that truck, Guillermo Carmona-Lopez, 31, of Bridgeport, is an illegal alien who had already been caught at the border twice and ordered out of the country, the Department of Homeland Security told the outlet Border Hawk, which first reported his immigration record Thursday.

What happened on I-91

Troopers were called to I-91 South near Exit 9 at 11:43 p.m. for a wrong-way driver, according to the Connecticut State Police accident summary. Before they got there, a 2005 Chevrolet Silverado heading north in the southbound lanes hit O'Shea's 2018 Honda Accord head-on in the left lane.

The impact pushed the Accord into the next lane, where a Jeep Grand Cherokee hit it, and then onto the right shoulder, where a GMC Terrain hit it again. O'Shea died at the scene. Carmona-Lopez was taken to Yale New Haven Hospital with serious, life-threatening injuries. Three people in the other two vehicles were treated for minor injuries.

State police say the investigation is ongoing. As of Thursday, Carmona-Lopez had not been charged, Border Hawk reported.

Who Ryan O'Shea was

O'Shea, of Stony Point, N.Y., was a senior at the University of New Haven studying criminal justice with a concentration in police science. He interned with the New York City Police Department last summer and planned to join the force after graduation, the university said. He also hoped to work for the Drug Enforcement Administration one day.

"Ryan wanted to go into public service in order to help others," said his academic adviser, Lorenzo Boyd, a professor of community policing. Devin Bertrand, general manager of the men's ice hockey club O'Shea captained, said, "His infectious personality lit up our locker room the moment he walked in, and his love for his teammates will never be forgotten."

The driver's record

DHS laid out Carmona-Lopez's history in its statement. In May 2013, Border Patrol arrested him, a Mexican national, after he crossed illegally, and he was removed under expedited removal. He crossed again near the Rio Grande Valley, a felony after removal, and Border Patrol arrested him a second time that same month. On May 30, 2013, he was issued a final order of removal.

"He then reentered the country at an unknown time and place," DHS said. All of that happened during the Obama administration. The DHS statement did not say whether ICE has asked to take custody of him.

Connecticut's sanctuary law

If ICE does come for him, Connecticut's Trust Act stands in the way. The law, passed in 2013 and tightened in 2019, Gov. Ned Lamont's first year in office, bars state and local police from holding anyone on an ICE detainer or a federal removal order unless a judge has signed a warrant, the person has been convicted of a class A or B felony, or the person is on a terrorist watch list, according to guidance from the state attorney general.

In other words, the removal order a federal officer issued in 2013 is not enough on its own for a Connecticut trooper or jailer to hand Carmona-Lopez over.

Lamont is running for a third term against Republican Ryan Fazio on Tuesday. Two memorial scholarships have been set up in O'Shea's name.