No charges against Border Patrol agent in teen's death

Melanie Eversley, USA TODAY 9:30 p.m. EDT August 9, 2013

The Justice Department announced Friday night it will not pursue civil rights charges against a U.S. Border Patrol agent involved in the 2011 fatal shooting of a 17-year-old Mexican national.


In this April 22, 2010, file photo, a Customs and Border Patrol agent patrols along the international border after sunset in Nogales, Ariz.(Photo: By Matt York, AP)

Story Highlights

  • U.S. government says teen was throwing rocks at Border Patrol when shot
  • Initially, a Mexican official said the teen died from hitting his head in a fall
  • The American Civil Liberties Union has said the incident illustrates excessive force


The Justice Department announced Friday night it will not pursue civil rights charges against a U.S. Border Patrol agent involved in the 2011 fatal shooting of a 17-year-old Mexican national.

In a statement released Friday, the agency said it does not have the jurisdiction to pursue such charges because the victim , Ramses Barron-Torres, was on the Mexico side of the border and would need to be in the United States for the Justice Department to proceed.

"While the loss of life is regrettable, the facts of this matter do not support a federal prosecution," the statement read. "Accordingly, the investigation into this incident has been closed."

Ramses Barron-Torres died Jan. 5, 2011, at about 3 a.m. at the international border fence in Nogales, Ariz. , as Border Patrol agents responded to reports that someone was moving narcotics across the border.

Initially, the details were in dispute. A Mexican official originally said Barron-Torres died after falling and hitting his head, but state police in Sonora, Mexico, said companions of the teen claimed he was shot by a Border Patrol agent.

According to the Justice Department statement released Friday, Barron-Torres and three other individuals threw rocks at the agents from the Mexico side of the fence and a fifth individual on the U.S. side carried a bundle suspected to be narcotics.

The agents ordered the group to stop throwing rocks and Barron-Torres continued, according to the statement. An agent then fatally shot the teen, the statement read.

Previously published reports indicate that the teen's companions, who left him outside of a hospital emergency room, told hospital guards on the night of the incident that Barron-Torres was climbing a border wall to enter the United States when he was shot.

The American Civil Liberties Union cited the incident as an example of excessive force used at the U.S.-Mexico border.

According to the Justice Department statement released Friday, a team of federal prosecutors reviewed hundreds of pages of documented evidence, along with video, physical evidence, and accounts by law enforcement and civilian witnesses generated by investigators with the Office of the Inspector General, Department of Homeland Security, as well as the FBI.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/08/09/border-patrol-shooting/2637901/