Federal authorities announced on Friday that no charges will be pursued against the U.S. Border Patrol agent in Arizona for the shooting of Ramses Barrón-Torres, the UT San Diego reported. The identity of the agent who shot Torres has not been released.
Through a statement, the Department of Justice said there was no evidence to accuse the Border Patrol agent of shooting Barrón Torres, the Mexican national from the city of Nogales who was only 17 years old.
The boy was fatally shot in the morning of January 5, 2011, after he allegedly ignored Spanish-language warnings to stop throwing rocks at the Border Patrol agents on the American side of the fence, the statement said according to the Huffington Post.
According to the statement, the agents responded to reports that "individuals were moving apparent packages of narcotics across the U.S.-Mexico border."
The 17-year-old boy and three other men started to throw stones at two agents that were on the U.S. side of the fence, while a fifth individual, who was carrying "a bundle of suspected narcotics" ran parallel to the fence. After Barrón-Torres ignored the agents' warnings to stop throwing rocks, the agents fired him, "fatally striking him."
The DOJ said there's a video tape of the incident, but according to the Huffington Post it has not been made available to the public.
"While the loss of life is regrettable, the facts of this matter do not support a federal prosecution. Accordingly, the investigation into this incident has been closed," concluded the statement.
"It is alarming that the Department of Justice will not pursue criminal charges against U.S. Border Patrol agents involved in separate 2011 fatal shootings in Arizona. There aren't sufficient oversight mechanisms in place now to hold Border Patrol agents accountable for their actions when they abuse their authority," said Pedro Ríos, of the San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium, according to the UT San Diego.
"My concern is that these types of violent incidents by Border Patrol, and decisions that do not provide justice for affected individuals, will become more common if we do not pursue protective measures for civil and human rights of border and immigrant communities," added Ríos.
At the time, the Associated Press reported a Mexican official said that Barrón-Torres had died after falling from the border fence and hitting his head on a rock. But the Mexican police revealed that the boy's autopsy determined he died from a bullet to the chest, the Huffington Post reported.
"He was a healthy kid who was well liked by the residents of the neighborhood," said a neighbor of the boy's mother, Rosa Isela Abechuco, who knew Barrón-Torres since he was 2.