US officials: Youth shot by Border Patrol agent had record as smuggler

[pinboy3niner]

US officials: Youth shot by Border Patrol agent had record as smuggler
By Daniel Borunda and Maggie Ybarra \ El Paso Times
Posted: 06/10/2010 12:00:00 AM MDT


EL PASO -- A Juárez teenager shot and killed Monday by a U.S. Border Patrol agent had a history of smuggling immigrants across the border, federal law enforcement officials said Wednesday.
<snip>

Officials said that Hernández was on the El Paso juvenile smugglers most-wanted list at the time of his death and that the teen's most recent charge of smuggling undocumented immigrants into the U.S. was in 2009.
<snip>

But criticism of the shooting death was spreading worldwide. London-based Amnesty International issued a statement Wednesday condemning the shooting.

"This shooting across the border appears to have been a grossly disproportionate response and flies in the face of international standards that compel police to use firearms only as a last resort, in response to an immediate, deadly threat that cannot be contained through lesser means," said Susan Lee, Amnesty International's Americas director.


Read More:
http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_15265746?source=most_viewed

_______________________________________


The story also notes that three Juarez bridge vendors who witnessed the shooting all said that the boy, Sergio Adrián Hernández Güereca, was NOT throwing rocks. According to the vendors, "he was only watching."

[joeybee12]

1. Amazing...my first reaction is to say these federal officials are lying...n/t

[City Lights]

3. What a coinkydink. That's my first reaction too! nt

[pinboy3niner]

6. His record is irrelevant, in any case

The boy wasn't guiding anyone at the time of the shooting, and Border Patrol is not even alleging that.

The leaking of information confidential juvenile records seems designed only to blame the victim by villifying the dead boy.

[EFerrari]

24. They're smearing a dead 14 year old. USA!

:puke:

[blondeatlast]

45. Great minds think alike? I had the same thought. nt

[Jennicut]

2. Who cares? He was 14!

[NoSheep]

8. ding

[MineralMan]

4. Anything to cover up, I guess.

Have we not learned anything over the years?

[KansDem]

5. Oh, well, that explains it...he was a "smuggler!"

His summary execution was justified!

:sarcasm:

[gratuitous]

9. Check his library records

Any overdue books?

[KansDem]

16. Ah! That must be it!

A malefactor who was summarily executed because he was caught throwing rocks while smuggling overdue library books!

[pinboy3niner]

17. Well, THAT proves he deserved it

:sarcasm:

[azurnoir]

7. It all sounds so familiar somehow

the border patrol seems to following the example of one of America;s "closest allies" and most likely depending on the same type of bigotry to exonerate them

[EFerrari]

25. Doesn't it?

I feel nauseous.

[Matariki]

10. Oh well, that's okay then

<insert sarcasm tag if needed>

[Taitertots]

11. Who here is willing to let me throw rocks at them?

The only person I've ever seen get hit with a rock got knocked out cold and had a huge gash on the side of his head. Throwing rocks is not a benign act, it is a vicious act of aggression.

[pinboy3niner]

12. Witnesses say the boy WASN'T throwing rocks--he was just watching

But even if he had been doing it, the use of lethal force was unnecessary and avoidable. (And the officer was wearing a bike helmet.)

[Taitertots]

14. Other witnesses say he was throwing rocks

Throwing rocks is attempting to seriously hurt someone. If someone is trying to do serious bodily harm to the police then lethal force is an legitimate escalation.

So are you going to let me throw rocks at you, I'll let you wear a bicycle helmet? Of course you wouldn't because it would seriously hurt you.

[Jazzgirl]

19. Bull Shit.

n/t

[RaleighNCDUer]

20. "Other witnesses". The guys that did the shooting, you mean. nt

[EFerrari]

26. Do you have a link? n/t

[Hell Hath No Fury]

27. You are one scary fuck.

Seriously. :scared:

[kirby]

21. Punishable by the death penalty?

I don't think so.

[walldude]

22. If I walk towards you in uniform with a gun pointed at you...

you are welcome to throw rocks at me.

[Taitertots]

29. You would shoot me

Just like the border patrol agents shot their vicious attacker.

[LaurenG]

40. "Just like the border patrol agents shot their vicious attacker"

Vicious attacker??? You have got to be kidding me. Tell me you are just trying to see if we are going to verbally slap you up before you tell us you're just kidding.
This is the most ridiculous line of bullshit I've seen since Boehner decided we should help BP foot the cost of their oil spill.

Are you so out of touch with your own humanity that you don't care about your fellow human beings. Are you such a coward and a punk that you'd kill someone (the wrong someone in this case) for throwing rocks? :wow:

edit: spelling/typo

[blondeatlast]

46. I'm betting he wouldn't. some people think before they act (or even post).

It's a pity you aren't among them.

[frylock]

23. right here buddy..

throw as many as you like. then i will kick your fucking sorry ass up one side and down the other, but i will not fucking EXECUTE you for it. you have to be fucking shitting me with this.

[Taitertots]

28. Oh no, Internet bad ass alert

Too bad I'm on the other side of a river that you can't cross to stop me. How many rock hits do you think you can take tough guy?

[Lyric]

30. Yes, I'm sure the man with the gun and the helmet was terrified of the lethal rock

thrown all the way from the other side of the river by a 15-year-old boy.

:eyes:

I just love how cowards will contort themselves into a million grotesque and absurd positions trying desperately to defend their fellow cowards.

[walldude]

32. Oh the irony....

An internet bad ass who thinks there should be a death penalty for throwing rocks calls out an "internet bad ass".

Hey what other crimes should we punish by death? How about shoplifting? that can cause terrible damage, it could ruin a store, cost employees their jobs, their very lives, they could starve without a job! Something must be done! Shoot them all! We are in DANGER!

What about smokers? They are smoking inside! They are killing us with their horrible carcinogens, KILL THEM ALL!!!

How about people who drive over the speed limit! They are putting us all in danger with their reckless regard for human life... SHOOT THEM!

Gee I could do this all day.

[frylock]

36. there was someone here defending the dumbshit that discharged a firearm in the city..

because some guys boosted iphones from a store. so i wouldn't be surprised to find out that people would support the death penalty for shoplifting.

[LaurenG]

33. Taitertots, there is something wrong with what you're saying

you are either a cop with a control complex or you are straight up drinking the strong koolaide, you know the kind that tea baggers drink. What in the name of all that is good could make a normal person think a rock is worthy of death?

[frylock]

35. fucking awesome!

internet badass sez the guy with the gun!

[frylock]

37. someone here has been taking some rock hits already..

[LaurenG]

31. Even if he were throwing rocks why shoot him.

You can't be serious about the danger of rocks compared to rifles or guns though right? You realize morally that it's not OK to kill someone who is annoying you and not letting you bag your "trophies" right?

Rocks were not a reason to take that kids life.

[EFerrari]

41. Do you have a link to witnesses that verify he was throwing rocks?

Thanks in advance.

[pinboy3niner]

53. I believe by "other witnesses" he means ONE witness, and...

...that's the Border Patrol agent who did the shooting. Unfortunately for him, the video seems to contradict his version...

[Solly Mack]

13. Damn

[walldude]

15. So... a 14 year old boy, who was smuggling oppressed people

to a land of freedom and promise was shot to death for his trouble.

In another day and time this kid would have been considered a hero.


"Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

[blondeatlast]

47. Really--I think it's time we erect a copy for El Paso, Nogales, and San Diego

each.

I'd really like to do that--but I might get killed.

[entanglement]

18. These agents would make nice hires at the Taliban who just hanged a 7 year old for being a "spy"

[blondeatlast]

48. I was just thinking the same thing. nt

[CreekDog]

34. Is there a difference between you and that spokesperson?

Could you in good conscience put statements out to the press defending the shooting of a 15 year old boy, ostensibly for throwing rocks, and furthermore, could you pile on and defame him as a smuggler in the aftermath to win the PR war on the topic?

Could you? Would you if it was your job?

Should you?

[pinboy3niner]

42. You're kidding, right?

This is a news update on the fourth day of a story we've been following in GD from Day One.

The paragraph to which I added emphasis was Amnesty International's condemnation of the shooting. Further, below the news excerpt I added information disputing the Border Patrol officer's account.

And, if you'd read the thread, my posts # 6, 12, and 17 might have given you a clue as to the answers you're asking for.

[CreekDog]

43. It was a rhetorical question, one that I'm sure you'd come out on the "good" side of

I'm merely making the point that could any of us in good conscience defend what this guy did?

There's a person out there who *was* able to.

I'm not perfect, but I'm somewhat happy that I would have difficulty pulling off what that department spokesperson did. To think he did that for a civilian salary makes me think that his scruples weren't worth very much.

[pinboy3niner]

44. It looks like the release of this info was unofficial and unauthorized

According to the story, "Officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because juvenile records are private."

It sounds to me like these were supervisory-level employees, probably former field agents themselves, trying to protect "one of their own" by smearing the boy in an effort to make the shooting appear somehow justifiable.

In their contorted logic, they're trying to imply that the boy deserved to die because of something he had done in the past--something that he was not doing at the time of the shooting, and that, as far as they know, he hasn't done since the alleged incident on their records from sometime last year.

Of course, releasing private information from juvenile records is a legal and ethical violation, so these cowardly leakers didn't allow their names to be used.

You're right--there were no scruples here. None at all.

[eppur_se_muova]

38. Smuggling is now a capital offense?

And it was bad enough worrying about getting shot by rival smugglers.

[MrScorpio]

39. Shit that makes you go, "Hmmmmm".

Sounds like a "Crack Sprinkling" to me.

[nadinbrzezinski]

49. Record is irrelevant

shooting 'cross international borders is considered, in polite company, an act of war.

Now on a personal note I defused a situation that could have gone down the lead flying department twenty years ago. Seems to me things have gone down to where defusing is not possible or hard to do. This is not good news, for anybody at the border region.

Yeah, yeah one of those many things that went into my record... atta girl... whatever... these days I fear I would have been shot by BOTH SIDES.

[pinboy3niner]

50. They see the "weapons of mass rocks" attack as an act of war

A dire threat to U.S. national security! Sadly, the only regret for some is that the teenage boy was not waterboarded before the execution...

:hi:

[nadinbrzezinski]

51. There are days I wonder if we wouln'd have invaded

Mexico if we were not a little busy, and they have not posted troops at the border because they are a little busy.

Of course you should know that those soldiers (Federal Police) who were threatening the border patrol... yes that's Fox for you. Granted those cops look and are heavily armed, but that is another story.

[pinboy3niner]

52. Neocons' priorities are elsewhere now--don't give them ideas!

:)