Charges Filed Against 6 Who Were Shot at by Border Patrol Agent

U.S. authorities have filed charges against six Salvadoran citizens who were inside a suspected smuggling van last week when a U.S. Border Patrol agent opened fire on the vehicle, striking two passengers.

Among those charged with entering the United States illegally, a federal misdemeanor, is Lilian Pineda, a 24-year-old mother of three who was struck in the right arm by a bullet fired by the patrol officer.

Larry Burns, the assistant U.S. attorney who is handling the case, said the charges were filed simply to keep the witnesses in the area. He said federal prosecutors had agreed to dismiss the charges by next Friday, when their investigation of the case should be completed.

The FBI, at the behest of the U.S. attorney’s office, is investigating the case to determine whether the officer was justified in firing at the van. FBI agents plan to interview the passengers, Burns said. The officer has been placed on paid administrative leave, pending the outcome of the inquiry.

Since there is no criminal complaint in connection with the case, Burns said, the six Salvadorans cannot be held as material witnesses. That procedural gap forced authorities to file the charges, Burns said.

The passengers include five Salvadoran men, who are now being held without bail at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in San Diego, Burns said.

Pineda posted $1,000 bail and is staying with relatives in the Los Angeles area, said her attorney, Jan Bejar, of San Diego. Pineda, who lost a brother in the civil war that has split El Salvador for the past decade, has filed a petition for political asylum with U.S. immigration authorities, Bejar said.

Also inside the van was a 12-year-old Salvadoran girl, who has been released to the custody of her parents, the assistant U.S. attorney said.

Another passenger, Franciso Ricardo Carbajal Cuenca, 16, a resident of the Mexican state of Morelos, is recuperating at UC San Diego Medical Center. He was shot in the neck; the bullet fractured his jaw. He is expected to be in the hospital all next week, and there are no plans to file charges against him, Burns said.

The passengers were all inside a stolen van on the morning of May 25 when the agent fired three shots into the back of the vehicle. The van had stopped along the shoulder of northbound Interstate 5 about 6 miles north of the international boundary after a Border Patrol sedan flashed its red lights.

The agent, approaching the van on foot from behind, fired as the van accelerated forward, authorities said. Neither federal nor local officials have explained what threat, if any, prompted the agent to fire.

Chula Vista police have completed their investigation, the results of which will be examined by the FBI, said Burns, the federal prosecutor. The shooting occurred within the Chula Vista city limits.

Burns stressed that no decision had been made on the case. Federal authorities have several options, including finding that the shooting was justified, which would obviate filing charges against the officer. In theory, officials could also file a federal civil rights case against the officer, or, alternately, refer the case to the San Diego district attorney’s office for prosecution.

The case is also being looked at by the Office of the Inspector General, an internal affairs unit of the U.S. Department of Justice, parent body of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, which includes the Border Patrol.