The mother of a Mexican teen who was shot to death by a US Border Patrol agent nearly two years ago has sued the agency, saying her son was walking home after playing basketball with his girlfriend and friends when he was hit in the back by 10 bullets.
Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez, 16, was in Nogales, Sonora, near the tall, steel fence that divides the United States and Mexico when a Border Patrol agent shot him from Nogales, Arizona, on Oct 10, 2012. An autopsy shows the teen was shot at least eight times.
The Border Patrol has said Elena Rodriguez was among a group of people throwing rocks at agents across the border, endangering their lives.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the lawsuit in federal court on behalf of Araceli Rodriguez, says the shooting was another example of US border agents using excessive force without consequences. Araceli Rodriguez says her son never had a rock or any other weapon.
The Border Patrol does not comment on pending litigation, spokesman Andy Adame said. Agency officials in the past have defended agents' use of force.