Probe of Boy’s Border Death Nears End

The San Diego County district attorney’s office is nearing the conclusion of its “intensive” investigation into the much-publicized killing almost 10 weeks ago of a 12-year-old Mexican boy who was shot shortly after he illegally crossed the border into the United States.

Luis M. Aragon, the deputy district attorney who has been handling the sensitive case, said this week that he expects the inquiry to last another week or two before authorities decide whether to file criminal charges.

“I think we have succeeded in narrowing the scope of our investigation, so I’m optimistic that we will be able to conclude” the inquiry, Aragon said.

The deputy district attorney declined to provide further details about the investigation or to say whether he expected criminal charges to be filed.

However, investigators are believed to have reduced the number of possible suspects in the case to two, including Leonard Paul Cuen, a 21-year-old U.S. citizen who was initially arrested in connection with the shooting but later released because of a lack of evidence. Cuen remains a suspect, Aragon said. The identity of the other possible suspect could not be determined.

The slaying, which occurred on May 18, attracted considerable attention on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. A few days after the killing, the Mexican Foreign Ministry issued a statement alleging a “racist current” in California and urged U.S. authorities to thoroughly investigate this and other possible cases of abuse against Mexican citizens.

The motive behind the slaying, however, remains unknown. San Diego police have indicated that Cuen may have been target-shooting in the area when a bullet went astray and killed the boy accidentally. Authorities have said publicly that there is no evidence that the killing was motivated by racial animosity. Cuen and his friends have no known links to organized hate groups, authorities have said.

A principal difficulty in cracking the case, authorities say, has been pinpointing who--of as many as four people--fired the shot that struck Emilio Eusebio Jimenez Bejines in the skull, killing him instantly as he stood on a rugged border hillside. The boy, accompanied by his uncle and two siblings, was en route to his parents’ home in the Orange County community of Stanton.

Cuen, an apprentice plumber, lives in a home on San Diego’s Monument Road, about a half-mile north of the international border. The property is directly in the path of a major illicit crossing route that is followed daily by dozens of undocumented aliens.

On the day of the killing, authorities have said, intermittent shooting emanated from the rear balcony of the Cuen home from about 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The boy was shot at about 3:20 p.m. There is an unobstructed line of fire from the Cuen property to the site where the boy was killed, which is about 350 yards to the south of the Cuen dwelling, authorities have said.

Cuen was arrested the day of the killing but was freed 11 days later after officials announced that there was insufficient evidence to file homicide charges.

The district attorney’s office is in possession of a .30-caliber hunting rifle believed to have been the weapon that killed the boy. The rifle allegedly belonged to Cuen.

After his release, Cuen was rearrested and booked in connection with the bow-and-arrow robberies in March of two groups of undocumented immigrants. Those allegations were separate from the case involving the dead 12-year-old boy, although information about the robberies emerged during the slaying inquiry, authorities said.

Cuen is free on $45,000 bail in connection with the robbery cases, which are still under investigation, the district attorney’s office said.