Thread: Mexican Officials: Surveillance Camera Recorded Fatal Border

Mexican Officials: Surveillance Camera Recorded Fatal Border Shooting

Published January 07, 2011

A police surveillance camera in Mexico reportedly recorded the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old Mexican teen by a U.S. Border Patrol agent early Wednesday.

Jose Larrinarga Talamantes, a spokesman for the Sonora Attorney General's Office in Hermosillo, told Nogales International that state investigators have confirmed the existence of the video with officials in Nogales, Sonora, and have asked for a copy.

"But it hasn't arrived yet," Talamantes told Nogales International.

The camera that purportedly captured the incident belongs to a 911-type state police command center that belongs to state authorities and not local police, meaning local authorities are unaware of its contents.

Several conflicting accounts of the shooting death of the 17-year-old, Ramses Barron Torres, have emerged since early Wednesday.

FBI officials claim Torres was shot at about 3 a.m. as U.S. Border Patrol agents were attempting to arrest suspected drug smugglers near the border fence and bystanders began throwing rocks at them. But a 17-year-old friend who claims to have witnessed the shooting told Nogales International that no rocks were thrown and that Torres was standing five or six yards from the fence on Mexican soil when he was fatally shot.

Arturo Sarukhan, Mexico's ambassador to the United States, told reporters in Mexico City on Thursday that it appeared to be "clear that the death was the result of a gunshot wound."

FBI spokesman Manuel Johnson declined to comment on Sarukhan's claim or that of the unidentified witness.

"We're not commenting on that. The investigation is ongoing," Johnson told FoxNews.com on Friday. "We're going to collect our information and facts and present it to [authorities]."

Johnson said the incident is being investigated as an assault on a federal officer. He declined further comment.

Alejandro Palacios, a spokesman for the neighboring Mexican city of Nogales, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that agents fired warning shots in the air after Torres and other Mexican youths had illegally crossed the border.

Palacios said the youths then threw rocks at agents but none of them were shot. He said Torres, who lived in the neighboring Mexican city, died after he landed on Mexico's side of the fence.

Sonoran police said Torres' three companions left his body outside the emergency room of the General Hospital in Nogales on the Mexico side of the border and then left in a vehicle with tinted windows.

Before the unidentified companions left, they told hospital guards that Torres had been climbing a border wall to enter the United States when a Border Patrol agent fired a single shot that hit the teen.

The state police statement said an autopsy determined the bullet had gone through Torres' right arm and entered his chest, puncturing a lung.

While the victim's body had numerous scrapes and bruises — apparently caused by falling onto a gravel pile on the Mexican side — Sonoran police said the autopsy determined that the bullet wound was the cause of death.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/01/07/me ... z1AOPiTYXl

Allot of conflicting statements and very questionable people involved onthe southern side of the wall. Bottom line is that the kid was wrong going over the wall. If he threw rocks at the agent he ran the risk of getting shot. Maybe will send a message we are gettig tougher.

Teen killed: friends want answers on why agent fired his gun

Posted: Jan 07, 2011 6:05 PM PST
Updated: Jan 07, 2011 6:05 PM PST
Reporter: Steve Nuñez

NOGALES, Ariz. (KGUN9-TV) - Even while family and friends gathered for a prayer vigil on the eve of the funeral for 17-year old Ramses Barron Torres, they remained angry with the way the FBI and the U.S. Border Patrol is handling its investigation. They want answers on why the agent fired his gun.

16-year old Chelsea Santa Cruz said the border fence is the only thing that separated her, at times, from her best friend.

"I'm really sad right now because he died," said Santa Cruz.

Now, the two are separated by life and death. Santa Cruz is also left searching for answers and justice.

She's American, but her other friends in Mexico all claim a border patrol agent shot and killed Ramses.

On Thursday, 9 On Your Side also caught up with a friend named Sergio. He did not want his full name revealed. Sergio claims he was with Torres when the agent shot him.

Sergio admits the two climbed the fence to cross illegally to visit Torres's American girlfriend. He denies the two provoked the border patrol or threw rocks at them.

"We didn't do any harm to them. We didn't have any guns or nothing," said Sergio.

But if the border fence is designed to divide two countries, it's also dividing a tale of two stories that conflict with reports given by the FBI.

The FBI will only confirm border patrol agents were investigating drug smugglers when another group began throwing rocks at them.

According to the FBI, the agent then fired shots. But the FBI would not say if anyone was shot or killed.

This statement also conflicts with a Nogales, Sonora police report obtained by 9 On Your Side Thursday afternoon. The report confirms Ramses died from a gunshot wound.

Still, many other questions remain unanswered.

9 On Your Side Reporter Steve Nuñez asked Santa Cruz if Torres an his friend Sergio were smuggling drugs.

"I know him, he was my best friend," said Santa Cruz. "He always talked to me and tell me his secrets. He wasn't involved in that."

Santa Cruz also denies Torres was throwing rocks at border patrol agents.

Nuñez then asked Santa Cruz if she knew what exactly Torres was doing at the border fence at three in the morning. Santa Cruz says he often crosses illegally to visit his American girlfriend - who lives just blocks away form the fence.

"I think that if a guy loves a girl, love takes risks I think," said Santa Cruz.

But friends and family also have questions.

Santa Cruz wants the BP to also fill in the blanks and provide answers on what really happened.

Nuñez asked Santa Cruz if there's anything she'd like to say to the border patrol.

"I would say to them they're really doing their job but they can do other stuff besides shooting at others," said Santa Cruz.

Nogales Police Chief Jeffery Kirkham confirms to 9 On Your Side that it's very common for Mexican teens to cross illegally into the United States just so they can visit family and friends. Kirkham said it happens on a daily.

http://www.kgun9.com/Global/story.asp?S=13806324

im thinking this is a story we are going to have to stay on top of for the next few days. if not more

If the agents were the target of thrown rocks or the target of any other object including bullets..they do and should have the authority to use deadly force. As for border crossing it clearly shows the disreguard they have for the border. It does not matter if family or friends are here int he US. If they are illegalaly crossing then they are wrong. I think we are going to see many more such incidents like this as the US starts to tighten down on illegals and drug smugglers at the border.