Marine kills high school student in border detail

REDFORD, Texas (AP) Military activities aimed at stemming drug
traffic on the TexasMexico border
were suspended Wednesday following the shooting death of a local high
school student by a Marine.

Ezequiel Hernandez Jr., 18, was shot Tuesday after opening fire on four
Marines who were watching a
suspected drugtrafficking route, the U.S. Border Patrol said.

Hernandez, a 10thgrader at Presidio High School, fired twice and was
getting ready to fire a third time
when he was shot in the chest, Border Patrol spokesman Mario Ortiz
said.

Relatives said Hernandez had taken his .22caliber rifle to tend the
family's 30 goats after dinner when
they heard a single shot. The shooting took place about a halfmile
away.

``Even if he did shoot at them twice like they said, I think they had
no right to kill him,'' said Belen
Hernandez, Hernandez' 26yearold sister. ``They could've shot him in
the leg or arm, but not to kill
him.''

The Texas Rangers were investigating and military border activities in
the area about 200 miles southeast
of El Paso were suspended.

``One, you have the death of a U.S. citizen. Secondly, it did involve
the military. And thirdly, it was
obviously a very unfortunate incident,'' Ortiz told The Dallas Morning
News.

The shooting drew sharp criticism from immigrant rights advocates, who
argue that using troops along
the border incites violence.

``They're not local, they're not trained as Border Patrol agents, and
they probably don't know the field
very well. You're asking for more and more bloodshed,' said Suzan Kern,
coordinator of the El
Pasobased Border Rights Coalition.

The shooting was the second on the border involving the military. An
Army Green Beret conducting
surveillance along the Rio Grande near Brownsville wounded a Mexican
man who opened fire on him
on Jan. 24.

The man, Cesario Vasquez Acuna, 30, later pleaded guilty to assault and
other charges. He faces up to
15 years in prison and a $500,000 fine at his sentencing next month.

The January shooting was the first in 2,000 missions authorized since
1989 by Joint Task Force Six, a
federal agency that helps local authorities fight drug smuggling, said
spokeswoman Maureen Bossch.

Soldiers involved in such operations are forbidden by federal law from
confronting suspects, but they
are allowed to shoot in selfdefense.

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