http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_15256386

Mexico blasts fatal shooting by Border Patrol agent

Rock throwing led to teenager's death, US says

By Daniel Borunda and Maggie Ybarra / El Paso Times

Posted: 06/08/2010 10:38:18 PM MDT
...

U.S. authorities said [15-year-old Sergio Adrián] Hernandez was part of a group throwing rocks at Border Patrol agents who were trying to detain two men who had illegally crossed the border near the Paso del Norte Bridge in Downtown El Paso.

[actually, this information was false. it turned out they only tried to detain teenagers, not adults. and "None were carrying backpacks or appeared to have weapons... While holding down one of the Mexican boys, this agent fired shots toward Mexico." http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704256604575294950172855306.html?mod=googlenews_wsj ]

[photo: this part of the Rio Grande is small, so they put a double 12-foot barbwire fence (top right of bridge photo, close-up below) that prevents entry into the U.S. in the photo, the boy's dead body is not anywhere near the fence, and not even in the riverbed. click to enlarge.]

Chihuahua state police said the boy died on the Mexican side of the border from one gunshot wound to the head. A .40-caliber casing was seized by [Chihuahua state] investigators.

[that shell was near the body, not near the fence. http://www.orovillemr.com/news/ci_15250967]

...

[Bobbie] McDow, a U.S. citizen, ... said she called 911 in El Paso and has since spoken with the FBI.

She said the man who made the throwing motion was not the one who was shot. She said the man who was shot was on the Mexican side of the border.

"Where he was clearly on the Mexican side when he got shot," she said...

[Hernandez's mother "said he ran and hid underneath one of the bridge's pillars upon hearing gunfire." http://www.orovillemr.com/news/ci_15250967 ]

Border Patrol agents have said that rock attacks have become frequent and can be deadly.

[however, no agent was injured by the dead boy or any other boy by the bridge. No agent has ever died from a thrown rock. on the other hand, many people have died from being shot, especially if they are shot twice:]

["The agent and the teenager 'had four seconds to look at each other' before the young man was shot, first in the shoulder and then in the head, he said." http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704256604575294950172855306.html?mod=googlenews_wsj ]

[how did the shell casing end up south of the Rio Grande? it's against the law for a U.S. border patrol agent to cross the border without permission, but this man may have actually been inside Mexico while he shot that Mexican boy, who was also in Mexico. If true, the agent could be extradicted to Mexico and imprisoned for murder. http://www.orovillemr.com/news/ci_15250967 ]