Border securityU.S. Border Patrol agent indicted in killing Mexican teen by shooting him through border fence
A federal grand jury has indicted Border Patrol agent Lonnie Swartz for shooting Jose Antonio Rodriguez, 16, through the border fence between Arizona and Mexico in October 2012. The case sparked outrage and came amid criticism that the Border Patrol uses force indiscriminately, a charge the agency has adamantly denied. In a similar case in June 2010, in which a 15-year old Hernandez Guereca was shot across the border and killed, a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals originally said Hernandez Guereca’s family could sue Mesa, but the full court overturned that ruling in April.
A federal grand jury on Wednesday indicted Border Patrol agent Lonnie Swartz on a charge of second-degree murder. On 10 October 2012, Swartz allegedly fired through the border fence into Nogales, Sonora and fatally wounded 16-year-old Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez.
The boy’s family has filed a civil lawsuit.
Luis Parra, the attorney for the mother of Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez, told AP that “The Elena Rodriguez Family is grateful to the DOJ (Department of Justice) for this first step in the pursuit of justice, and remain steadfast in their resolve to seek full transparency from the U.S. Border Patrol on behalf of Jose Antonio.”
CBS News reports that the border patrol said last year that Swartz fired his gun after rocks were thrown over the fence as agents and police officers tried to stop two suspected drug smugglers.
His family says the boy was walking home from a basketball game with friends and was not armed or throwing rocks.
An autopsy revealed Elena Rodriguez had been shot about ten times.
Swartz’s lawyer, Sean Chapman, told the Arizona Daily Star that his client would plead not guilty at an arraignment on 9 October.
Chapman said he expected the case would go to trial.
CBS News correspondent Anna Werner reported in August that there have been several similar cases involving shootings by Border Patrol agents.
In one, in Texas, a federal appeals court ruled that a teen killed in Mexico by a border agent in El Paso was not protected by the Constitution. In that case, U.S. Border Patrol agent, Jesus Mesa Jr., shot 15-year-old Sergio Adrian Hernandez Guereca in June 2010 near a bridge between El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua.
The Border Patrol said that Mesa was trying to arrest immigrants who had illegally crossed into the country when rock-throwers attacked him. Mesa fired his weapon across the Rio Grande, striking Hernandez Guereca twice.
A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals originally said Hernandez Guereca’s family could sue Mesa, but the full court overturned that ruling in April.
