911 calls from Camp East Montana reveal medical response to detainee deaths

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- Medical staff at Camp East Montana initially said that two detainees had attempted to hang or strangle themselves in separate calls to El Paso 911 operators, according to new audio of the calls obtained by ABC-7.

In the first call from Jan. 3 of this year, the caller who does not identify himself tells the 911 operator, "He tried to hang himself, and then we put him in cuffs, and he kept going."

As ABC-7 has reported, Geraldo Lunas Campos was the second detainee to die while in custody at the ICE facility on Fort Bliss property on Jan. 3, with his death ruled a homicide by the El Paso County Office of the Medical Examiner.

The audio from the call is not clear at points with loud noises and shouting in the background, but in response to a later question about if the detainee tried to hang himself, the caller confirmed it.

"Medical is still on him with an AED [Automated External Defibrillator]. And I think that he has vomit in his mouth," the caller later goes on to say.

ABC-7 also reported Victor Manuel Diaz was the third detainee death reported at the facility on Jan. 14, with his family calling for an investigation into his death.

Some portions of the call audio are redacted by a loud tone when discussing the current status of Lunas Campos and Manuel Diaz.

In the second call from Jan. 14, the caller who identifies himself as a health service administrator from Camp East Montana says, "We got a situation where they found someone, that committed suicide or tried to commit suicide. And so we're working on them right now at the clinic."

When asked what happened, the caller goes on to say, "We have a detainee here in observation in one of our urgent units, our rooms in the medical clinic area. And, you know, they were doing rounds, and they just found him, with, I guess his pants tied up to his neck, at least. I was not the one that got here, but he's actually, like I mentioned, they're working on him now."

ABC-7 will have full coverage of the calls and their contents coming up in our afternoon newscasts.