Findings in Death of Bandit Disputed : Mexican Autopsy Conflicts With U.S. Report on How Border Outlaw Died

A preliminary autopsy on the exhumed body of a Mexican border bandit who died in a gunfight with police and Border Patrol agents indicates the man was shot in the forehead by a bullet fired at close range, the Tijuana coroner said Tuesday.

The finding contradicts the San Diego police account that Julio Arroyo Zaragoza was killed by a shot fired from 30 feet away. Arroyo’s brother, charged with robbery in the incident, has claimed that police killed his brother after he was wounded and disarmed.

The examination was performed here Tuesday on Arroyo, 33, who died on the night of May 4 from a police bullet that hit him between the eyes. The body, which was buried in Tijuana, was exhumed at the request of Jose Tafolla, who is representing Arroyo’s brother, Jaime Arroyo Zaragoza.

Tijuana coroner Gustavo Salazar, who performed the autopsy, said in a telephone interview late Tuesday, “My examination reveals that he was shot from no farther than 15 inches away. But it could very well be a contact wound. I could not say for certain if it was a contact wound until I see the results of further laboratory tests.”

Salazar said that a microscopic study of the area under the skin near the wound revealed traces of gunpowder, suggesting a contact wound, a wound suffered when the barrel of a gun is placed on the skin or very near to it. Salazar said that tests are being performed in a San Diego laboratory to corroborate his findings.

San Diego attorney Tafolla hired San Diego pathologist Hormez Guard to observe the examination by Mexican authorities.

“Everyone (Guard and Salazar) is in agreement that this shot was fired from close range, and not from 30 feet away as the police have reported. This examination leaves no doubt that he was shot from close range, but we’ll have to see the results of the lab tests before we can say if it was a contact wound,” said Tafolla.

San Diego County Coroner David Stark said Tuesday he “will have to reserve opinion” on the Mexican authorities’ findings until he sees their report. “But I’m satisfied with what I have seen from this office and with the information provided to us by the San Diego Police Department,” said Stark.

Homicide Lt. Paul Ybarrondo, police spokesman, said he is still convinced that the fatal shot was fired from 30 feet and possibly 40 feet away.

“All I can say is that the shot was fired from 30 to 40 feet away,” said Ybarrondo. “Our opinion is not changed at all by this. The Mexican doctors will have to present their evidence to us.”

District Attorney spokesman Steve Casey said that his office is interested in reviewing the Mexican authorities findings “to get to the truth in this matter.” He declined to comment further.

According to the police account, Julio and Jaime Arroyo and an unidentified third suspect were robbing illegal aliens in the border canyons on the night of May 4. The shooting occurred a half-mile east of the San Ysidro port of entry and a quarter-mile north of the international border. Police say that Julio Arroyo died when members of the Border Crimes Prevention Unit--composed of both San Diego police officers and Border Patrol agents--returned fire after he emptied his five-shot revolver at them.

During the exchange of gunfire, Arroyo allegedly fired five times at Agent Fred Stevens, hitting him each time. Stevens was hit three times in the chest, once in the wrist and once in the hip with bullets fired from Arroyo’s .38-caliber pistol. Stevens, 39, was saved by his armored vest and is back on duty.

According to a San Diego County Coroner’s autopsy report dated May 6, Julio Arroyo died from a gunshot wound between the eyes that had “several stellate disruptions extending from” the wound.

Stellate disruptions--star-shaped lacerations extending from a bullet entry wound--are usually indicative of a contact wound, pathologists told The Times.

Police say that Arroyo was standing on a darkened hillside firing his pistol up at officers on the ridge when he was killed by a bullet that hit him square in the middle of the forehead, at the hairline. Police say that Officer Cesar Solis was standing about 30 feet away when he fired the 9 mm bullet that killed Arroyo.

Homicide investigators said that after Arroyo was mortally wounded on the hillside, his body rolled 100 feet into a canyon. Arroyo also suffered a bullet wound in the left calf that entered at a downward angle.

But Luis Balcalar, brother-in-law of Julio and Jaime Arroyo, said that Jaime Arroyo disputed the police version of the incident. Balcalar said that in a meeting with Jaime Arroyo at the County Jail after his arrest, Jaime said that his brother was executed by police.

“Jaime has told us that after the shooting at the top of the ridge ended, Julio’s body rolled down. Some of the officers ran down the hill and he later heard one more shot at the bottom of the canyon,” said Balcalar, who lives in San Francisco.

Pathologist David M. Katsuyama performed the autopsy on Arroyo for San Diego County and noted in his report “a rounded gunshot entrance wound about 3/16 to 3/8 of an inch in diameter, having several stellate disruptions extending from it.”

In June, after The Times inquired about the autopsy report and the possibility that Arroyo may have died from a contact wound, Katsuyama notified homicide investigators and asked to review the autopsy photos. After reviewing the photos with Stark, Detective Gil Padillo and a deputy coroner, Katsuyama said that he no longer agreed with his initial report noting the stellate disruptions and does not believe that Arroyo died from a contact wound.

“Perhaps I should have described it as star-shaped instead of stellate. Perhaps I didn’t use the right words . . . In a contact gunshot wound there is charring on the inside and outside of the wound. There was none . . . If it is a contact wound the disruption should’ve been a hell of a lot bigger than that I encountered, (at least) about a half-inch extending from the wound,” said Katsuyama.

But while Katsuyama said there were no signs of charring around the wound, he said that he saw “no reason” to check under the skin for evidence of charring or gunpowder. Katsuyama neither took nor saved tissue samples from around or under the wound.

In June, Stark said that despite Katsuyama’s new opinion that the lacerations around the wound are not stellate disruptions after all, the coroner’s office will not amend the report.

“The choice of words wasn’t the best wording to use . . . We’re not going to change the wording, but there is no concern that this is a contact wound. He (Katsuyama) believes this is not a contact wound . . . Still, the description (on the autopsy report) gives the impression that you have a contact wound,” said Stark.

Salazar on Tuesday said he saw “characteristics of stellate disruptions around the entry wound.” The Baja California District Attorney’s office ordered Salazar to perform another autopsy after receiving the request from Tafolla. Arroyo was buried May 8 and the body exhumed on Monday.

Guard, the San Diego pathologist who observed the autopsy, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

There was some confusion at the beginning of the case when Ybarrondo said the fatal bullet came from agent Stevens’ gun. Later, Ybarrondo said that ballistics tests determined that the bullet actually came from Solis’ pistol.

Ybarrondo was quoted on May 14 as saying that the district attorney’s office had ruled the shooting justifiable. However, on June 28 Casey told The Times that the DA had not officially cleared the officers.

Later, Dan Williams, the prosecutor in the case, said that he had “essentially” cleared the officers before stepping down from the case. Police investigators eventually received a letter from the district attorney, clearing the officers and agents involved in the shooting.