Macon County Sheriff, An Open Letter to Our Hispanic Community

MACON COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE March 31, 2018 

Open letter to our Hispanic Community:

As the Sheriff of Macon County, I wish to express our sincere condolences in the loss of your loved one and friend. I want you to know we want nothing more than to get answers as to what happened to the two Altamirano brothers found murdered this week and to allow our justice system to work for them and their family and friends.

We are limited as to what we have released so far in our investigation- and for good reason. This is a criminal investigation and we must protect it as such. We know Diego and Francisco Altamirano were murdered as a result of being shot and then loaded into the back of the truck which was driven through our community and left on the side of Jack Cabe Road with their bodies still in the back of the truck. We know there is someone out there that knows how this occurred. It is imperative that anyone with any knowledge to come forward and assist us in solving these murders.

While my investigators are working around the clock conducting this investigation, we are aware that there is both a language barrier and a trust issue between the Hispanic community and law enforcement. There is no need for this to be occurring and be an issue of concern for you. We have Spanish speaking officers and translators working tirelessly in an effort to solve this crime. I know that many of you have already spoken with my detectives during the course of this investigation and I thank you. We know there are many more of you to be interviewed. We stand prepared to interview anyone who is willing to talk to us.

To my friends and citizens of the Hispanic community, you are living in the United States and in Western North Carolina where people take pride in caring about our neighbors no matter what ethnicity they may be or where they were born. Just as law enforcement everywhere, we have lots of issues we are addressing daily, but currently there is no issue more important to us than the deaths of your friends. I write this open letter directly to you because we know someone out there knows what happened to these two members of your community... our community. We know someone is afraid to come forward with that information. As your Sheriff, I want you to know there is no need to fear us. We want you to come forward and contact us. We will not be asking you questions about your legal status as we have been told that is a concern for many of you. We will not be asking you questions concerning anything except what you may know about the Altamirano brothers and about any information related to them. As I said, we want nothing more than to solve this crime. We are asking you to come forward and provide any information you may have. There is no information too small and you never know what piece of information you may provide that can help. Let law enforcement decide what is important and what is not. Don’t buy into the various rumors posted on social media. Some of the things being posted by a select few does not represent our community as a whole. You will always have some kind of ignorance in every community. I guarantee you that, as a whole, this is a great community and the vast majority of our citizens want the exact same thing your law enforcement community wants for your friends... JUSTICE.

I ask that you please contact us at (828) 349-2107 or at our CrimeStoppers Hotline At (828) 349-2600 if you have any information. No matter how small you think the information may be please call us and help us to solve this horrible crime.

Sincerely,
Sheriff Robert Holland
Macon County Sheriff’s Office
Macon County, NC USA ??

I don't speak Spanish so I'm not sure how well this translated, but maybe it will help till someone can... Si bien mis investigadores trabajan a toda hora para llevar a cabo esta investigación, somos conscientes de que existe una barrera del idioma y un problema de confianza entre la comunidad hispana y la policía. No es necesario que esto ocurra y debe ser motivo de preocupación para usted. Tenemos oficiales y traductores de habla hispana trabajando incansablemente en un esfuerzo por resolver este crimen. Sé que muchos de ustedes ya han hablado con mis detectives durante el curso de esta investigación y les agradezco. Sabemos que hay muchos más de ustedes para ser entrevistados. Estamos preparados para entrevistar a cualquiera que esté dispuesto a hablar con nosotros.

Para mis amigos y ciudadanos de la comunidad hispana, usted vive en los Estados Unidos y en el oeste de Carolina del Norte, donde las personas se enorgullecen de preocuparse por nuestros vecinos sin importar su origen étnico o dónde nacieron. Al igual que la aplicación de la ley en todas partes, tenemos muchos problemas a los que nos enfrentamos a diario, pero actualmente no hay un problema más importante para nosotros que la muerte de sus amigos. Le escribo esta carta abierta directamente porque sabemos que alguien conoce lo que les sucedió a estos dos miembros de su comunidad ... nuestra comunidad. Sabemos que alguien teme presentar esa información. Como su Sheriff, quiero que sepa que no hay necesidad de temernos. Queremos que se presente y se ponga en contacto con nosotros. No le haremos preguntas sobre su estado legal ya que nos han dicho que es una preocupación para muchos de ustedes. No le haremos preguntas con respecto a nada que no sea lo que puede saber sobre los hermanos Altamirano y sobre cualquier información relacionada con ellos. Como dije, no queremos nada más que resolver este crimen. Le pedimos que se presente y proporcione toda la información que pueda tener. No hay información demasiado pequeña y nunca se sabe qué información puede proporcionar que pueda ayudar. Deje que la aplicación de la ley decida qué es importante y qué no. No compre los diversos rumores publicados en las redes sociales. Algunas de las cosas publicadas por unos pocos seleccionados no representan a nuestra comunidad como un todo. Siempre tendrás algún tipo de ignorancia en cada comunidad. Te garantizo que, como un todo, esta es una gran comunidad y la gran mayoría de nuestros ciudadanos quieren exactamente lo mismo que tu comunidad de aplicación de la ley quiere para tus amigos ... JUSTICIA.

Le pido que se comunique con nosotros al (828) 349-2107 o en nuestra línea directa de CrimeStoppers al (828) 349-2600 si tiene alguna información. No importa qué tan pequeña creas que sea la información, llámanos y ayúdanos a resolver este horrible crimen.