Border Victims Were Shot in Back, Attorney Charges

A San Diego attorney representing the families of two Mexican citizens killed by U. S. Border Patrol gunfire charged Thursday that the two men were handcuffed and attempting to flee back to Mexico when they were shot from behind earlier this month.

The version of events is completely at odds with that presented by San Diego police investigators, who say the agents opened fire as the men, suspected bandits, approached the agents in a threatening manner, with at least one man brandishing a knife.

But the attorney, Marco E. Lopez, contends that statements from up to seven witnesses indicate that the two men had already been arrested and handcuffed when they made a break to escape back to Mexico, leading to the shooting.

Lopez said each victim’s family plans to file a $15-million wrongful-death claim with U. S. authorities. The shootings have already drawn a diplomatic note of protest from the Mexican government.

‘Murder Was Committed’

“The use of force here was totally unnecessary and unjustified,” said Lopez, who appeared at a Tijuana news conference flanked by relatives of the two dead men. “The evidence, I think, is clear that murder was committed.”

Lopez released the results of an examination of the bodies by a Tijuana pathologist, Esteban Chapital Gutierrez, who found that both men had probably been shot from behind. One victim was hit by a single shotgun blast to the back of the head, according to the pathologist’s report, and the other was hit by two shots--one striking his lower back and the other his left arm. Facial bruises indicate both men fell face down, Lopez said.

The San Diego County coroner’s office, which performed an autopsy, has declined to release details until its final report is ready.

Capt. Dave Hall of the San Diego Police Department rejected Lopez’s version of the shooting.

The suspects were handcuffed after they were shot, said Hall, who noted that such procedure is a standard safety precaution. He declined to comment on whether the suspects were shot from behind, but he noted that the fact that victims are shot from behind is not proof that they were shot while running away.

Agents Felt Threatened

“The officers felt their lives were in jeopardy, and they shot at the suspects,” said Hall, whose responsibilities include the homicide division, which is investigating the shooting. Police have said three screwdrivers--apparently used as weapons--and a machete were found at the scene.

Shooting their guns were three Border Patrol agents assigned to the Border Crime Prevention Unit, a joint Border Patrol-San Diego police task force that has been credited with reducing crime against the hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens who enter the United States each year from Tijuana.

Since its inception in 1984, the uniformed unit, successor to an undercover police unit disbanded in 1978, has been involved in 35 shootings that have killed 18 suspects and wounded 26, police said. All of the shootings have been ruled justified, officials said.

The San Diego district attorney’s office, which reviews all law enforcement shootings in the area, will also examine this incident to determine whether the use of deadly force was justified, spokesman Steve Casey said.

The current controversy involves the most recent task force shooting, which occurred on the night of Jan. 4 in an area west of the San Ysidro port of entry.

Police have charged that the two victims were bandits who approached the agents with the intention of robbing them. But Lopez said the two men were just small-time alien smugglers.

Reportedly Handcuffed

The attorney made public a one-page statement from Javier de Anda Artiaga, a 21-year-old livestock worker and friend of the dead men who says he saw the shooting, which he said occurred about five minutes after the two were taken into custody. According to De Anda, the two men were handcuffed with their arms behind them and were being held against what appeared to be a Border Patrol vehicle when they attempted to run toward Mexico. De Anda said an officer then opened fire.

“They did not get to reach very far when the bullets hit them,” De Anda stated in the declaration. “I saw the bullets hit them from behind. When they fell, they fell face down.”

The dead men have been identified as Jose Martin Lopez, 21, described as a fish vendor, and Sabino Silva Chavez, 24.

Neither victim had a criminal record, either in Mexico or the United States, Lopez said. A third suspect who was also shot, Rodolfo Nunez Quiroz, has acknowledged spending almost four years in California prisons on two robbery-related convictions and is in police custody, charged with attempted robbery. A fourth suspect is in the custody of San Diego juvenile authorities.

Companion Wants Justice

Attending the press conference was Juana Cordova, the common-law wife of Martin, who says she has been left penniless and unable to care for her daughter, Angelica, 4, who was also present.

“I want justice,” she said. “He was my sole comforter and supporter.”

Lopez, the attorney, has represented several claimants shot by border agents, most notably Humberto Carrillo Estrada, a 12-year-old shot by a U. S. Border Patrol agent in 1985 as he stood in Mexican territory. A federal judge awarded the youth $574,000 in damages in that shooting, which had been ruled justifiable by San Diego and federal authorities.