Mexican Family Sues U.S. in Border Slaying

Relatives of a 17-year-old undocumented immigrant from Mexico who was shot and killed by a plainclothes Border Patrol agent in September have filed a $30-million wrongful-death suit against the U.S. government and the officers.

The agent, whose identity has been withheld by the Border Patrol, in accordance with agency policy, shot and killed Victor Adrian Mandujano, just before midnight Sept. 8 at a site along the border fence in San Diego. Agency officials say the shooting was in self-defense.

The shooting was one of a series by U.S. law enforcement agents in the border area last year that sparked protests by immigrant advocates on both sides of the international line, who have long charged that the Border Patrol acts with impunity--a charge vehemently denied by U.S. officials.

The civil suit, filed this week in U.S. District Court in San Diego, charges that the agent acted “brutally, maliciously, cowardly and without justification.” It says the victim, accompanied by his brother Higinio Mandujano, 23, was unarmed and fleeing back to Mexico when shot.

Three witnesses, including the victim’s brother, have told Mexican authorities in sworn statements that the agent dragged Mandujano from the border fence, threw him to the ground and fired twice into the victim’s chest at “point-blank range,” according to Marco E. Lopez, the San Diego attorney who filed the suit.

The Border Patrol has asserted that the agent fired his .357 Magnum service revolver during a struggle after the victim attacked the officer and attempted to wrestle his gun away.

An initial Border Patrol inquiry showed that the shooting fell within agency guidelines--which call for the discharge of firearms only as a “last resort,” to save the agent’s life or the lives of others, said William Veal, deputy chief Border Patrol agent in San Diego. The agent who fired has remained on duty pending the results of an inquiry by the FBI, Veal said.

The FBI findings will be used in making a final determination of whether the agent acted in accordance with patrol guidelines, said Veal, who declined to comment on the lawsuit Friday.

Veal said the agent has at least three years of experience and was on an authorized plainclothes assignment when he attempted to make the arrest that led to the shooting. The agent was dressed in a camouflage jacket, jeans and tennis shoes, according to the lawsuit, which states that the agent’s garb was contrary to policy.

The Border Patrol, unlike police departments, refuses to release the names of agents involved in shootings. Agency officials say the policy is designed to protect the agents.

On the night of the shooting, the suit says, the agent began chasing the two Mandujano brothers at a site just north of the border fence, prompting the pair to run south. The elder Mandujano was able to jump over the fence into Mexico, according to the suit, but his younger brother, lagging behind, was grabbed by the agent while still attempting to scale the barrier.