The mother of a Mexican teen who was shot to death by a US Border Patrol agent nearly two years ago has sued the agency, saying her son was walking home after playing basketball with his girlfriend and friends when he was hit in the back by 10 bullets.
Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez, 16, was in Nogales, Sonora, near the tall, steel fence that divides the United States and Mexico when a Border Patrol agent shot him from Nogales, Arizona, on Oct 10, 2012. An autopsy shows the teen was shot at least eight times.
The Border Patrol has said Elena Rodriguez was among a group of people throwing rocks at agents across the border, endangering their lives.
Also Read
The American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the lawsuit in federal court on behalf of Araceli Rodriguez, says the shooting was another example of US border agents using excessive force without consequences. Araceli Rodriguez says her son never had a rock or any other weapon.
The Border Patrol does not comment on pending litigation, spokesman Andy Adame said. Agency officials in the past have defended agents' use of force.
Chief Michael Fisher said at a border expo in March that there's been a mischaracterization that agents "indiscriminately" open fire.
"If you are like me, there's nothing more terrifying than fighting for your life when you're alone with no communication, and the thought for a split second that you may never get home at the end of that shift to see your wife and son again," Fisher said.
Immigrant rights groups have long claimed that agents are quick to shoot.
In the lawsuit, the ACLU alleges yesterday that the Border Patrol has a "systematic" problem with use of force. Border Patrol agents generally are allowed to use lethal force against rock throwers because rocks can be potentially deadly.
Rock throwers have attacked agents more than 1,700 times since 2010.
"Jose Antonio's killing by US Border Patrol agents is unfortunately not a unique event, but part of a larger problem of abuse by border patrol agents in Nogales and elsewhere," the lawsuit states.
At a news conference yesterday, the teen's grandmother pleaded for justice.
"It was a cowardly murder," Taide Elena Rodriguez said. "Jose Antonio was not an animal.
