Border Patrol agent kills 15-year-old boy in Texas after rocks were thrown

Border Patrol agent kills 15-year-old boy in Texas after rocks were thrown

news.yahoo.com

A Border Patrol agent shot and killed a 15-year-old boy near El Paso, Texas, yesterday after rocks were thrown at him. Mexican officials are protesting the incident, claiming that it represents a new trend of excessive use of force by U.S. immigration officals.

José Reyes Baeza, the governor of Chihuahua, the Mexican state over the border from El Paso, told a local newspaper that the boy died because of "xenophobic and racist conduct" associated with popular support in the United States for the Arizona immigration law

(visit the link for the full news article)

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[edit on 6/8/2010 by semperfortis]

Wow this is straight out of the West Bank and Gaza. This is only gonna make the Israeli debate rage harder as now its being brought home.

I don't think it will be too long until people start drawing comparisons between Israeli treatment of Palestinians and American treatment of Mexicans, if stuff like this continues to happen



news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Mod Edit: Review This Link: Instructions for the Breaking News Forums: Copy The Exact Headline



[edit on 6/8/2010 by semperfortis]

The officer told the rest of the people in the group to stop and retreat. Simmons said that instead of following directions, the others in the group surrounded the agent and threw rocks at him, which is when he fired his weapon.

It's a terrible waste of life, but without knowing all the facts I wouldn't completely disagree with the officer's actions.

It may sound bad, a 15 year old boy being killed because he threw some rocks, but consider the situation the officer was in, and ask yourself, what would you have done?

reply to post by thedarklingthrush


How could you compare this to the Gaza situation? I just don't see the parallel between illegal immigration and the ghetto state situation in Gaza. Perhaps you could enlighten me some?

reply to post by thedarklingthrush


Considering this from the article:

"Local FBI spokeswoman Andrea Simmons told El Paso Times reporter Maggie Ybarra that Border Patrol officers detained two people among a group suspected of entering the U.S. illegally Monday night. The officer told the rest of the people in the group to stop and retreat. Simmons said that instead of following directions, the others in the group surrounded the agent and threw rocks at him, which is when he fired his weapon."

I think the officer was justified in defending himself, as all law enforcement officers are in the United States. It's a tragedy anytime a LEO has to kill someone, but sometimes necessary.

Mexico is not Gaza and illegal immigration and US border defense is not the same issue.

If the story is correct, the Mexicans crossed into the US illegally and than surrounded and attacked a Border Patrol Agent. While *I* may believe that firing into a crowd throwing rocks is overly aggressive, I was not there and there is no way to know for certain how aggressive or threatening (or how threatened) the agents felt the situation to be.

Bottom line: cross the border illegally and than attack B.P. and there will be an incident.

Sad for all involved.




[edit on 8-6-2010 by LadySkadi]

For people that are wondering I think its straight out of Israel/Palestine because kids have been and often are shot at and killed for throwing rocks.

Does anybody know what class of firearm such a Border Agent would be issued with .

Border Patrol officers detained two people among a group suspected of entering the U.S. illegally Monday night. The officer told the rest of the people in the group to stop and retreat. Simmons said that instead of following directions, the others in the group surrounded the agent and threw rocks at him, which is when he fired his weapon.

link

speculation follows ....
So the Agents managed to grab two people from the group, but the group upon realising that they outnumbered the Agents perhaps tried to menace the agents into releasing the two. A possibility .....

Alot depends on where the incident took place , how many Agent there where , what firepower the Agents had and the number of people surrounding them .

Would a warning shot of sufficed ? How isolated where the Agents from further backup ?

Lots of questions and a dead 15 year old Mexican boy.
Desperation to make a life .. meets desperation to save ones own life .




[edit on 8-6-2010 by UmbraSumus]

[edit on 8-6-2010 by UmbraSumus]

More listening to instructions, less throwing rocks = win.

Agent gets hit in the head by a rock, agent falls, agent's gun is now taken by illegals and agent likely dies. That's assuming agent isn't killed by a well thrown rock.

I see an agent who did his job and think any comment aside from it being tragic and unfortunate that this teen decided to break the law by entering illegally and then compounded it by refusing a lawful order to stop and attempted to assault an officer of this country misplaced and ridiculous.

Mexico is completely insane. They want to place blame on xenophobia and racism and not the kid throwing deadly objects at a Border Patrol agent?

They should try blaming their own irresponsibility and that of the idiot who threw rocks.

While I'm typically on the side that attacks LEO's on actions that are reported to be "excessive", from the facts reported in this article I can't see anything wrong done here.

The officer was surrounded and got rocks thrown at him. Last I checked, people used to do these things back in the old days because it did a good job killing people. I can cite the Bible, Quran and Talmud for this.

One could argue the officer should have been able to take aim and only wound the teen but lets be clear. You're surrounded, getting pelted with rocks. You try to aim but can't, so you fire blindly. And it kills someone. No surprise there, honestly.

If this is how things transpired, no blame can really be placed on the officers. More than likely not he didn't even mean to kill or even hit anyone.

Originally posted by thedarklingthrush


Wow this is straight out of the West Bank and Gaza. This is only gonna make the Israeli debate rage harder as now its being brought home.

I don't think it will be too long until people start drawing comparisons between Israeli treatment of Palestinians and American treatment of Mexicans, if stuff like this continues to happen



news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

I wish sometimes people would get all the fact BEFORE they post stories like this.
oh wait... make Americans look bad. America=Israel and Mexico=Gaza???
Maybe you are right....
Palestinians want a free ride and Mexicans want a free ride
America says keep Mexicans out and Israel says keep Palestinians out

Maybe you are on to something here... I hope mexico doesn't send a flotilla...

This stupid kid wasn't long for this world anyway. He was definitely a contender for the Darwin Award. I mean, what kind of idiot throws rocks at someone who is carrying a gun?

He got what he asked for.

Yes it is americas fault! We made that kid illegally cross the border. We made that group of people then surround 2 border patrol guards and start throwing rocks. We made the agents so fearful for his life that he felt the need to discharge his weapon to protect him and his partner.
If I had to guess I'd say these 2 officers were either carrying a 9 mm or a .40 cal semi-automatic.
It is sad the kid didn't try to come here legally, then he would still be alive.
This is no comparison between Israel/Gaza. We are not crowding mexico into an area a forth the size of new jersey, we do not block them from receiving food and supplies. We do not fire phosphorous weapons at them. That is a ridiculous comparison.

Originally posted by SpectreDC

One could argue the officer should have been able to take aim and only wound the teen but lets be clear. You're surrounded, getting pelted with rocks. You try to aim but can't, so you fire blindly. And it kills someone. No surprise there, honestly.

One can argue all they like, this is not and will never be taught as an option to LEOs in a life threatening situation. If an LEO fires his weapon the target should die.

Im almost certain the BP Agent hit exactly what he was aiming at: The imminent threat (ie. Closest person with rock in hand and aggressive posture) then immedietly turned looking for the next threat.

CT

Without knowing more facts I think any judgement is premature. The article doesn;t state how many people were surrounding them, their gender/age makeup and distance. Also WHAT SIZE rocks makes a big difference.
This could be cold blooded murder or self-defense. No way to tell. It's a poor decision by anyone to surround and throw rocks at anyone armed with weapons.
As for using rocks as weapons in the bible, yes, they used them - in slingshots. They sure as heck didn't throw them. that was a poor comparison. I don't think a warning shot would have been unwarranted, however.

Bp agent! ah the irony!


[edit on 8-6-2010 by Asktheanimals]

reply to post by Conspiracy Theorist


You try aiming a weapon when you're being pelted from all sides with rocks.

A trained and experience marine would have trouble with that. A border patrol agent? Pfft. Please.

Based on the yahoo article, I would have to say the agent was within his rights.

Found this update

A witness told ABC-7 she saw a group of young men trying to cross into the U.S. and that the Border Patrol agent shot and killed one of the teenagers.

"I thought the reaction of the border patrol was overreaching," she said, "It was the use of deadly force when I didn't feel his life was in jeopardy."

The FBI is leading the investigation of the attack on the Border Patrol agent because it involved an assault on a federal officer. The agent was not injured, FBI spokeswoman Andrea Simmons said.

The woman said that is when the agent started firing his weapon. She said she was unsure if the teenager that the agent allegedly shot was the same one that was throwing the rocks.

"I just thought it was really wrong that he was firing a gun into the Mexican side when there was no one with a weapon," said the woman. "The kid didn't hit him with a rock and I don't believe the kid that was killed this evening was the kid who threw the rock."

www.kvia.com...

reply to post by SpectreDC


USBP Agents go through FLETC like any other federal law enforcement agency. I dont understand why you would expect them to be less proficient than any other federal agent.

CT