A fatal shooting by sheriff's deputies at a marijuana farm in the eastern hills of Santa Clara County marked what could be the latest encounter between authorities and a proliferation of large-scale marijuana farming driven by the Mexican drug trade.
Before a raid Wednesday morning in the hills above Mines Road, three deputies from the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office shot and killed an armed man as they were scouting near a large marijuana farm, sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Rick Sung said.
Deputies said the man, who was Latino, refused orders to drop his rifle and pointed its muzzle at authorities, after which they opened fire. He attempted to regain control of his weapon, at which point the deputies fired a second round of shots, killing him, Sung said.
The farm in question contained about 20,000 marijuana plants with an estimated street value of more than $60 million, and law enforcement officials were still at the scene Thursday.
One local official said the size of the operation strongly suggests that, rather than a local operation, the farm could be linked to Mexican drug cartels that the law enforcement officials have said are responsible for as many as nine out of 10 large-scale marijuana growing operations in the country.
When Samer Shehada read the news this morning, he started shaking with anger: The former Miami Beach cop who shot and killed his brother last summer had just been arrested for running a 
