Family Sues in Killing by Deputies : Courts: Christmas Day shooting of 60-year-old gardener from Mexico was unjustified, suit says.

Six months after sheriff’s deputies shot to death a 60-year-old Tecate gardener, the man’s family filed a lawsuit Friday alleging that the Christmas Day shooting on a mountain road near the U.S.-Mexico border was unjustified.

The family of Ezequiel Tinajero Vasquez sued the county of San Diego, Sheriff Jim Roache and the two deputies involved in the incident: 10-year veteran William Smith, 39, and 12-year veteran Gary Vanderford, 34.

The suit filed in Superior Court alleges that Smith and Vanderford violated the civil rights of the 5-foot-3, 130-pound father of eight and killed him without provocation.

Investigators have said the two deputies responded to reports that Tinajero was menacing passing cars with a shovel on California 94, then shot him six times when he rushed them brandishing the homemade shovel.

The confrontation occurred after Tinajero left his Tecate home and crossed the border illegally, intending to visit his sister--a U.S. resident--at her house in semi-rural Potrero, about 2 miles north of the border. He had never crossed the border before, relatives said, and apparently became disoriented.

Mexican diplomats and officials in Mexico City denounced the shooting, but Sheriff Roache said the deputies acted in self-defense.

The FBI has forwarded the results of a preliminary inquiry to the U.S. Justice Department’s civil rights division, a spokesman said Friday.

The complaint filed by attorney Joy Tiz alleges that Vanderford and Smith were unjustified in shooting Tinajero, whom the complaint described as a “man of slight build” carrying “his gardening tools, a large water bottle (and) blankets.”

It further said that Sheriff Roache should have known of the two deputies’ alleged propensity to use excessive force.

The complaint asks for an amount of damages to be determined by a jury. The county has already rejected a $2.5-million claim by the family.