JUAN CARLOS LLORCA, Associated Press
Updated 03:14 p.m., Tuesday, June 5, 2012
chron.com

EL PASO, Texas (AP) — U.S. Justice Department officials met Tuesday with the parents of a 15-year-old Mexican boy who was fatally shot by a Border Patrol agent to explain why they have decided not to pursue a criminal case against the agent, an attorney for the family said.

Sergio Adrian Hernandez Guereca's parents were told during the meeting that there is no avenue to appeal the Justice Department's ruling that agent Jesus Mesa Jr. followed policy in 2010 shooting, Attorney Steve Shadowin told The Associated Press.

A Department of Justice official confirmed the meeting but declined to discuss further details. A message seeking comment was left for Mesa's attorney.

The meeting took place at the Paso del Norte Port of Entry, in El Paso, just a few hundred yards away from where the boy was killed on June 7, 2010.

U.S. investigators have said Mesa was trying to arrest illegal immigrants who'd crossed into the U.S. when he was attacked by people throwing rocks and fired his weapon across the Rio Grande. Hernandez Guereca was hit twice, once in the head. The Justice Department determined last April that there was no evidence Mesa broke any laws or acted inconsistently with Customs and Borders Protection's use of force policy and training.

Bob Hilliard, the lead attorney for the Hernandez Guereca family, has said the 15-year-old was unarmed and did not threaten Mesa.

Lawyer: Officials meet slain Mexican boy's parents - Houston Chronicle