CIUDAD JUAREZ: Mexico has condemned the US Border Patrol’s “disproportionate” use of force after an agent shot dead a 14-year-old Mexican boy who was throwing rocks on a bridge linking the two nations.
The boy died after a border patrol officer opened fire from the El Paso, Texas, side of the border on a group who “threw stones” while apparently trying to enter the US illegally from Ciudad Juarez, the Mexican Foreign Ministry said yesterday.
“The use of firearms to repel attacks with stones represents a disproportionate use of force,” the ministry said.
President Ernesto Calderon “strongly condemns” the death of the teenager and will ask the US to investigate “fully the incident and punish those held responsible”, the President’s office said.
Lou Patch, a supervisory Border Patrol agent in El Paso, confirmed that at least one agent opened fire on Monday and said an FBI probe had begun.
Mr Patch said agents were “performing bike patrol duties” on the bridge when they were “assaulted with rocks by an unknown number of people”.
“During the assault, at least one agent discharged his firearm,” he said. The agent was placed on administrative leave and “a thorough multi-agency investigation is ongoing”.
Mexican officials said witness statements alleged that US agents on bicycles pursued the youths towards Mexico and that two of them opened fire.
Mexican state police had earlier said the boy, Sergio Hernandez, had been playing with two other youths on the Puente Negro bridge spanning the Rio Grande.
Ciudad Juarez’s attorney-general’s office also said the youths were playing when they strayed into US territory inadvertently, and ran back towards the Mexican side after being surprised by the US agents.
The victim’s parents said their son was killed inside Mexico and that he had no intention of crossing the border.
Jesus Hernandez told W Radio his son went to the bridge to have lunch with his brother, who works nearby.
“He went to the riverbank to look to the other side,” he said. “There were lots of kids and the border patrol cop . . . started firing off shots and hit my son, my baby, twice in the head.”
The US State Department said US agents responded to “a group of suspected illegal immigrants from Mexico”. It said in a statement that “the agents were reportedly assaulted with rocks by an unknown number of people.
“During the assault, an agent discharged his firearm, killing one of the suspects. We regret the loss of life.”
Mexico’s Foreign Ministry said the cases of Mexicans killed or injured in incidents involving use of force by US authorities had risen, “from five in 2008 to 12 in 2009 and 17 so far this year”.
Be the first to comment