Official Says Border Killing Victim Might Have Lived

An illegal immigrant who was allegedly shot in the back by a U.S. Border Patrol agent could have survived with medical aid but the accused agent dragged the victim down an arroyo and later talked about secretly burying the body in Mexico, according to testimony here Friday.

The dead man--Dario Miranda Valenzuela, 26, of Nogales, Mexico--may have lived up to 30 minutes after last week’s shooting and might have recovered if given quick medical care, said a report from Bruce O. Parks, medical examiner in Pima County, Ariz.

“This victim was left out to die a slow death,” Santa Cruz County prosecutor Jose Luis Machado said during a tense bail hearing Friday.

Also on Friday, a partner of accused Border Patrol agent Michael Andrew Elmer said in a statement he feared that Elmer would kill him to conceal the crime.

“I was scared that Elmer would try to get rid of the only witness to the shooting--me,” Border Patrol Officer Thomas Allan Watson said in the court record.

Elmer, 29, is charged with first-degree murder in Valenzuela’s death. He is believed to be the first Border Patrol agent charged with murder for a killing on duty, patrol spokesmen say.

Justice of the Peace Alberto Rios ordered Elmer held without bail after the hearing. Elmer’s lawyer has said the agent is not guilty.

Authorities say the two agents were among five Border Patrol officers looking for drug couriers in a remote canyon when Valenzuela was shot in the back with a rifle. Elmer never reported the June 12 incident, prosecutors said, but Watson alerted his Border Patrol supervisors 15 1/2 hours later and led them to the body.

Elmer was arrested after Watson told officials the agent planned to bury the body in Mexico.

In his statement, Watson said the agents were stationed around the canyon, keeping in contact by radio, when they saw Valenzuela and a companion heading north. Suspecting that the men were armed scouts for cocaine smugglers, Watson said, he and Elmer opened fire and the men ran off.

Watson said he purposely missed the man who ran near him and did not see Valenzuela get shot. But afterward, Watson said, Elmer led him to the wounded man, checked his pulse and declared him “gone.”

According to Watson, Elmer held his rifle in an assault position toward Watson and said: “I’m going to bury it. Do you have a problem with this?”

After Elmer dragged the body away, the agents returned to the station, Watson said--adding that he remained awake all night fearing that Elmer would come to his home and try to kill him.

The man who escaped, Eduardo Torres Berber, Valenzuela’s brother-in-law, said Friday that the agents opened fire without warning and continued to fire as he fled.

Torres said he was about 15 yards in front of Valenzuela when the shots began. He looked up and saw a man dressed in a military-style uniform, pointing a rifle and yelling in Spanish, “I am going to kill you!”

Torres said he ran as fast as he could and returned to Mexico. He said he learned that Valenzuela was dead in a radio news report the next day.

“There was no warning; they just fired,” Torres said Friday at Sanctuary of Our Lady of Guadalupe Roman Catholic Church in Nogales, where relatives gathered for a funeral Mass.