U.S. to Pay $1.9 Million in Antidrug Patrol Shooting

The government will pay $1.9 million to the family of a teenage goatherd who was killed by a Marine patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border for drug traffickers, a family lawyer said Tuesday.

The government admitted no wrongdoing in the May 20, 1997, death of Esequiel Hernandez Jr., though the controversy led to the suspension of military patrols along the border.

The family’s attorney, Bill Weinacht, said the settlement signed by the Hernandezes on July 25 brings an end to all legal action by the family.

The victim’s brother, Margarito Hernandez, said the money doesn’t ease the loss.

“It’s pretty hard. Nothing is going to bring him back. But at least it will help my parents. It will help them, financially, at least,” he said.

Hernandez, 18, was killed in Redford, 200 miles southeast of El Paso, after crossing paths with a four-man Marine patrol conducting antidrug surveillance on the Rio Grande at the request of the Border Patrol.

Military officials said Hernandez, who was herding his goats, fired twice at the Marines with his .22-caliber rifle and had raised the gun a third time when the patrol leader shot him once with an M-16.

Hernandez’s family and civil rights activists have long disputed the military’s account.

Family members said the teen, who had no criminal history, would never knowingly have shot at anyone. They said he carried the rifle only to protect his livestock from wild dogs and occasionally to shoot targets.

Investigators have consistently backed the military. Federal and state grand juries declined to indict any of the Marines.

The Rev. Melvin LaFollette, a Redford activist, said the settlement is “one more piece of evidence that there was total wrongdoing in this case by various arms of the government.”

“Innocent parties don’t pass out millions gratuitously.”

A Justice Department spokeswoman, Chris Watney, would not comment because of federal privacy law.